This Is War
by BlackSandHeart
Summary: The future, present, and dimensions collide because of an accident on the ARK seven years ago. Can Sonic and company stop a war from breaking out? Will they even survive...? OCs from my story and others in here. Please R&R originally called The Reclaim but... I changed the name.
1. Chapter 1

***bows dramatically* Hello readers of FanFiction looking for something interesting to read! Welcome to "The Reclaim, by BlackSandHeart" (*cough* me *cough*) and thanks for taking time out of your day to read this. I hope you enjoy the story! I hope to post daily and if I can't I am terribly sorry. School vs. Me usually doesn't end well usually and I'm trying to get a 4.0 this year. Moving on, here's some help with some of the weird names that pop up:**

**Xsus= X-s-us**

**Xerius= X-ear-e-us**

**Disclaimer= Sonic the hedgehog and company belong to the creators known as SEGA along with the places mentioned unless its in another dimension- then it's mine. The owner of the evil dark voice belongs to BlackStormNomad and I own the characters known as the Dimension Jumpers: Katherine, Zap, Windy, Xsus, Xerius, Jason, Chase, Ria, Sierra, Father Darkness, and Flame. Taking any of mine or Nomad's characters without permission results in instant shock by Zap himself. And no, I'm not kidding. Moving on, parts of this story's plot was given to you by Strife the Dark 152- special thanks goes to him for letting me use it.**

Chapter One=

TIME= 14 HOURS 03 MINUTES

AREA= REMAINS OF STATION SQUARE

YEAR= 7 YEARS IN THE FUTURE

Xsus cursed to himself as he strapped a machine gun over his shoulder. His black combat boots smashed into the asphalt as he ran through the abandoned streets. He slid to a stop next to a nearby building and pressed his back into it, holding his breath.

"Spread out!" a dark voice suddenly yelled. "He has to be around here somewhere!"

A shadow appeared on the brick wall before him, thanks to the fires that still somehow burned in the city, and the shadow was that of a hedgehog's. Xsus' eyes narrowed as he turned around and booked it down the alleyway he was in. He hopped over a decaying chain link fence and smashed into the ground, splashing into the water.

Xsus slid around a corner and ran into a familiar face, literally.

Xsus crashed onto the ground and lifted a fist, ready to throw a punch at the person he ran into but stopped cold when he recognized the face. "Clive!"

Clive gasped in relief as he struggled to his feet. The Light Giver helped Xsus to his feet and both grinned at each other. Both had grown up to the horrors of war over the years, and both were now barely seventeen years old.

Xsus still had his golden fur and big, leaf like ears but the childish light in his ocean blue eyes was gone, replaced by a serious tone instead. He wore an unzipped and hoodless jacket over a light blue shirt with a dark blue wavelike pattern on the bottom. He wore dark green cargo pants that were stuffed into his black boots and a black ace bandage wrapped around both of his hands. The blue glasses on his forehead added a nice touch to the golden cat's appearance.

"By the Light Givers, you're still alive!" Clive said shaking his head slowly. Clive was a black and white colored raccoon. His black fur covered most of his face and his ring tail was almost long enough to touch the ground. He wore black combat boots like Xsus along with a black t-shirt with dark green cargo pants. He lifted a white gloved hand as he continued. "I just got a call from HQ, they got the machine to start working."

Xsus shook his head. "Finally! What's been taking them so long?"

Clive shrugged. "Who knows? Or cares for that matter, come on, we have to get out of here!"

Clive jumped to his feet and helped Xsus to his own feet. As Xsus pulled the machine gun off his shoulder, he watched as Clive pulled a Light Ray out of his pocket while whistling quietly to himself in awe. Light Rays looked similar to a gun or a pistol but were the color of the ocean on a sunny day. The guns were known for shooting pure white energy at the victim and turning them into ashes instantly.

"Nice Light Ray," Xsus complemented.

Clive shrugged. "Eh, I miss having a machine gun. It makes more of a _bang_ when I shoot."

Xsus rolled his eyes. "Good heavens, Clive. Still as aggressive as ever, I see."

"Come on, Father Darkness would hate for us to keep him waiting," Clive made a signal to have Xsus follow him and both cat and raccoon ran down the narrow streets that were what was left of Station Square with the never ending cloud covered sky above them.

-XXXXXXXX-

TIME= 09 HOURS 18 MINUTES

AREA= CENTRAL CITY

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

"You're going to have to try harder than that to stop us, Egghead!" Sonic the hedgehog taunted as his feet pounded on the asphalt. He lifted a fist and showed it to the doctor that was running away in his classic flying machine while also showing his trademark grin.

"You meddling hedgehog! Stay out of this!" Eggman growled back to the blue blur.

"No can do, Doctor E!" Sonic chuckled. He glanced to the left and watched the X-Tornado fly down from the sky.

"Sonic!" Tails called. "Catch!"

Sonic grabbed the golden ring Tails had thrown at him as he outstretched his hand. He smirked at Eggman and then curled into a ball before shooting up at Eggman.

"Ah!" Eggman yelped and jerked his control stick to the far left, barely avoiding Sonic's attack, except the small hovering machine crashed into the side of the building and Sonic landed on the ground, chuckling and rubbing his nose.

"How you feeling now, Doctor Egghead?" Sonic snickered.

After a moment of silence, Eggman managed to pull his machine out of the building. He scowled at Sonic but Sonic couldn't help but laugh at the doctor since he had the dust from the wall and ceiling all over his face, making him almost as white as a sheet.

"I'll get you someday Sonic!" Eggman said, swearing to do so for what seemed like the billionth time. He took off to the sky and then suddenly, a flash of dark light from a nearby rooftop made the hovering machine explode and sending Eggman rocketing towards the horizon and out of sight.

Sonic glanced to the rooftop the blast came from and gave the person on the rooftops a thumbs up. "Good one, Sierra."

Sierra, a pure black cat with icy blue eyes smirked and turned around before marching off, her black cape and clothes blowing in a sudden gust of wind. Tails landed the tornado next to Sonic and hopped off with Knuckles the Echidna and Amy Rose.

"She keeps popping up in the most random times," Amy huffed angrily as soon as Sierra was out of sight, putting her hands to her hips. "It's getting really annoying!"

"Ah cheer up, Ames! As long as she's being helpful, that's all that matters right? It's better than her trying to kill us." Sonic grinned, shrugging innocently.

Amy frowned. "I suppose…"

"Come on, let's head over to G.U.N. HQ and tell them that we defeated Doctor Eggman for the… I lost count. Tails?" Sonic turned to his adopted brother hopefully.

Tails lifted a small calculator shaped machine and shrugged as the words on the calculator showed the E button for infinity. "The machine lost count too."

Sonic laughed as he jumped onto one of the wings of the plane while Knuckles took the other. Tails and Amy climbed inside the dark blue tornado as it took to the sunny skies and flew northwards, towards G.U.N. HQ.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Shadow, you got any Kings?"

"No, go fish."

Rouge the bat sighed in disbelief as she reached into the random pile of cards in the middle of the table as Shadow the hedgehog turned towards another black cat but had red streaks in her bangs and hair. Her sky blue eyes looked up at Shadow then glanced down at her cards as she lifted a gloved hand and shuffled the cards in her hands and then she looked back up at Shadow.

"Katherine," Shadow said, calling the cat by name. "Do you have any Aces?"

Katherine scowled, making her face scrunch up in annoyance, "Okay, now you're cheating. How do you know all the cards I have? Omega, are you helping him cheat?"

The robot known as E-123 Omega turned to Katherine from its position on the other end of the room. Shadow, Rouge, and Katherine refused to let the robot play since he used his robotic intelligence to beat all three of them multiple times. "NEGATIVE. I HAVE NOT BEEN HELPING SHADOW WIN THIS GAME OF GO FISH WITH FACE CARDS."

Katherine shook her head as she pushed her Ace towards Shadow across the table. "You're cheating…" She grumbled as she glared at Shadow the hedgehog, who happened to be her brother after an incident on the ARK over fifty years ago.

"Am not," Shadow said bluntly as he took the card and placed it in his pile.

Katherine muttered something about how annoying little brothers could be before glancing at Rouge. "You got any sevens?"

Rouge shrugged and pushed a Seven of Clubs over to Katherine.

Suddenly, the door opened, startling the three of them to look up as they saw the commander walk in with Tails, Sonic, Knuckles, and Amy following him. Sonic grinned at them as they looked at him in surprise. "Hey guys, what cha doing?"

"Playing Go Fish with face cards," Katherine muttered.

"Deal me in." Knuckles said flatly. He took a seat next to Rouge as Katherine pushed a couple of cards towards the Echidna.

Amy sighed as she sat next to Katherine, "You and your games."

"Maria made this game up," Shadow growled, turning harsh crimson eyes onto her. "Don't make fun of it."

"Sorry, sorry!" Amy said weakly. After a pause, she frowned, "Hey, where is Maria?"

Shadow grumbled something under his breath, "With Cream and a couple others."

Katherine shook her head as she remembered the Day of the Dead, an incident that brought the dead back to life for a week. They were able to let Cosmo, Maria, and Katherine's friend Savanna stay alive with the power of the Chaos Emeralds in the end, making stay alive instead of disappear forever, like what normally happened at the end of the Day of the Dead. "So," Katherine continued, waving a hand at Sonic as everyone took a seat, except Omega. "I take it you beat Eggman?"

"Yep," Sonic said as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair. "It was a piece of cake!"

"Piece of pie…" Katherine muttered, snickering to herself as she remembered the argument she had with Zap about this in her home dimension, since she was from another dimension after all, along with a few others. Everyone in this dimension knew them as the Dimension Jumpers though and called their group that.

"What?" Sonic frowned at her, confused by her comment.

"Never mind," Katherine sighed, "So, what are we all doing in here then?"

The commander turned his attention to them. He was a flat faced man with a permanent scowl attacked to his face with white gloved hands and a button down gray shirt. He had white hair on his head and he pressed a button on the touch screen table before him and the lights instantly dimmed, the blinds showing the outside world closed, and a TV monitor floated down from the ceiling.

Shadow tossed his cards into the pile along with the others since it was too dark to play anymore. He turned his attention to the commander. "I take it you are giving us a new mission?" He asked seriously.

"Actually an assignment," The commander said seriously. He pressed a few buttons on the touch screen table and on the TV monitor a picture of a crazy looking white bird with the biggest blue eyes appeared, making everyone lean backwards (even Omega) in surprise since the bird was leaning close into the camera's lens when the picture was taken with both of its eyes going in opposite directions.

"What the…?!" Knuckles started to say but stopped short when Katherine glared at him. Everyone knew how much she hated it when someone swore.

"This old bird was talking constantly about the ARK and how something bad will happen on it," The commander explained. "Your mission is to talk to him to see if he's really just a crazy old bird or if he's telling the truth."

Rouge raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "So you want us to talk to a crazy looking bird just for some information?"

"Yes,"

"I'm outta here," Rouge grumbled. "This is way too crazy for something like me to even do."

"If you do it then I'll give you a Chaos Emerald," The commander sighed.

Rouge leaned forward, an excited light flashing through her eyes. "Carry on then, good commander!"

Katherine face palmed across from her while the others rolled their eyes in disbelief.

"So, your mission is to find the bird, talk to him, and find out if what he's saying is actually a true or not and then, if it's true, investigate it." The commander said with a shrug, "You are all dismissed."

"Alright team!" Sonic jumped to his feet and lifted a fist. "Let's go talk to a crazy old bird!"

The rest of the group (except Shadow and Omega) cheered and then gathered out the door as the commander turned to the white bird with a frown on his face. "Are you right, bird?" He said to the picture as he frowned at the crazy look in the blue eyes. "Is this all coming to an end?"

**There you go! First chapter down, if some things didn't make any sense to you go check out my other stories, I tried to explain everything for you new readers but if things still don't make sense, sorry! But before you go, please do leave a review! But I'm warning any flamers now: go ahead and flame but expect to have the fire thrown back at you by Chaosthehedgehog unless you're **_**nice**_**about it.**

**Ah, speaking of Chaos, ay! Chaos! (the rest of you don't have to look at this just jump to the next paragraph) I'm planning on putting your story up sometime soon. Are there any last minute changes you want to be added in or to get rid of before it's up? Let me know in your review!**

**Anyways, have a nice day and see you when the next chapter comes around!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi readers and welcome to Chapter Two! Thanks for sticking around and please don't forget to leave a review! Thanks goes to my a part of my crazy writing Ohama for reviewing: Strife, raeweis, Amicus, UFO, Rya, and Storm! O****h! And while I remember here's how you pronounce another strange ****name that'll pop up:**

**Tiane: Tea-on-ay**

**Rya= *laughs* That's true. Snags in the space time are never a… ahh… good thing. Anyways, I think I can give you some info about Clive without ruining anything about the story (that's new…): So, Clive is a kid with time travel abilities like Silver and a few others. But his problem is that he can only go forward in time, not backwards so he's kind of ahead of his years but he's about Xsus' age currently and the two are partners. More will be explained about him in a later chapter though… if you still don't get some things haha. Sierra vs. Rouge… *busts up laughing*  
Xsus *flattens ears* "That's not me…!"  
Anyways, the bird will have **_**quite**_** some interesting things to say. You won't believe how much fun it is to write a story with a crazy person in it haha, I can write riddles in it for you readers! No predictions? Aw… hopefully you'll get some by the end of this chapter.**

**Storm= Lol! You waited that long just to read chapter one? I feel honored! Anyways yeah… Xsus and FD… things are going to get interesting really quickly. Kelly likes to play Go Fish…? Huh… anyways, this chapter's for you! Your characters do finally pop up in it… ^^ and yes, some things never change.**

**UFO=Lol you're thinking Nazo…? *laughs* Anyways, for the disclaimer in the return it's a mixture of both, we're arguing and getting ready to fight. Hope that made sense. Really? Those are your fav colors? That's awesome because I kind of just guessed and combined colors! Anyways, yeah Xsus is put into a bad time period… I just hope this all ends well! Lol gummy bears huh…? Those things are quite delicious. And I hope this story turns out good too!**

**Strife= Glad your liking it so far! I hope the rest of it stays just as good… anyways, yeah I decided to add detail into this one, just for the heck of it.**

**Raeweis= You'll find out, it's quite hilarious actually, writing about an insane bird. You put the truth and the lies into one sentence *laughs*. Anyways, noooo! It's not called stupid… it's being lazy! Don't worry everyone's lazy at some point… but glad you think it's interesting! I hope it stays that way! *does an Amicus style finger dance***

**Amicus= read the last sentence in my comment to raeweis' review, and you can laugh at me *grins*. Anyways, I know! I completely changed some things on you guys! Wait, we're going to Neverland?! Yessss… I call finding Captain Hook and we'll have a sword fight… disclaimer idea! Anyways, *coughs* yeah Sierra has a habit of just randomly popping into things. So you and Clive would get along well? *laughs* that's hilarious. Anyways, yes some things are different but you'll get why soon! Yes! As long as Amicus has a good feeling about this story it'll never fail!  
Xsus *cautiously pokes you***

**Disclaimer= Finally! With the first chapter you have to be serious with these… I normally do these with the people who review so please review! To the Ohama that reviewed: I'll add more to the one disclaimer I put up in the Return later… don't worry.  
Captain Hook "I will slice yer heads off!"  
Blackie *somehow manages not to fall off the plank and looks down at the shark infested waters behind her and sees these words appear in the water: 'Sonic and co. belong to SEGA, Captain Hook belongs to… the author who wrote Peter Pan, the Dimension Jumpers belong to BlackSandHeart, Kelly, Aero, and Robyn belong to BlackStormNomad, and some of the story ideas were brought to you by Strife the Dark 152'. She scowls and looks at Hook* "What's with a disclaimer floating in the water?!"  
Hook "Arr! That be none of yer business!"  
Blackie *looks unimpressed* "You're hilarious."  
Raeweis *sitting with Rya, Storm, and Amicus all four are tied up* "Can we knock out the guards now…?!"  
Rya *pulls out sword from the Light Givers know where and slices the ropes and helps the others to the feet. The other three grab their own swords and Rya points to a nearby pirate.* "Unguard!"  
Amicus *laughs and slices at a nearby pirate, then pushes him overboard into the water*****  
Strife and UFO *drop down from the sky and raise their fists* Strife "Sorry for the delay, we got side tracked with the Lost Boys."  
Blackie *knocks Hook overboard with a grin* "Well, you both arrived just in time."  
Storm *lifts sword into the air* "Charge!"**

Chapter Two=

TIME= 11 HOURS 23 MINUTES

AREA= STATION SQUARE

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

"So…" Katherine said thoughtfully as she hopped off the X-Tornado Tails had pulled up for everyone to ride on. The group was now in Station Square and was looking around with confused looks on their faces. "Where do you think this crazy bird is?"

Tails pulled out a machine. "Well according to my scanner he should be somewhere around here."

"Everyone keep an eye out for a crazy bird." Rouge said with a snicker.

Shadow glared at her. "But stay close together. We don't know what kind of monsters could attack us."

Sonic laughed. "Shadow, I just defeated Eggman again for the trillionth time. I don't think any monsters are going to show up anytime soon."

"What about Sierra… oh that's right. We have some weird truce with her too because of someone…" Rouge glanced at Sonic knowingly while Sonic felt his face grow warm.

"That witch has nothing to do with my Sonikku!" Amy lifted her fist at Rouge and glared angrily. "If Sierra lays one hand on Sonic then I'll knock her out of the sky!"

Tails took a step forward, waving his hands at the group. "Hey, hey, calm down guys! Fighting isn't going to help us find a bird."

"He's right," Katherine nodded. "The longer we sit here the more time we're wasting."

Omega turned his upper body all around, making him somewhat turn his back to the group. Everyone looked up at him as he spoke. "ENERGY SIGNATURE RISING. I HAVE FOUND THE BIRD OVER BY THE STREET CORNER NEXT TO THE VENDER'S CART."

Sonic's eyes darted over to where Omega was looking and his eyes lit up. "Oooo! A chilidog stand! Dibs!" He started running towards the chilidog stand on the corner of the street but was stopped by an irritated Shadow as he Chaos Controlled in front of him.

"This is no time for games, Faker!" Shadow growled, "We need to talk to the bird first!" He then pointed at a bird sitting on the end of the road wearing nothing but tattered shoes and scratched up gloves, it looked like he had been living on the streets for the past year or two.

Sonic frowned as the bird turned towards a mother walking her child and both started running as the bird chased them, lifting its hands into the air and rambling on something in gibberish. "That's just creepy."

"Well, sitting here gawking won't get us any answers." Katherine grumbled. She marched forward and after a moment, everyone looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed the cat.

As soon as they were close, Rouge called out to the bat. "Hey, excuse me!" She called, putting her hand on her hip as the bird stopped chasing the mother and child and was slowly returning to the street corner next to an annoyed chilidog vender.

The bird lifted its blue eyes up to the group and both Shadow and Katherine winced at the crazy look in his eyes, which brought back painful memories of Gerald Robotnik when he finally went insane. The bird had the same light in his eyes and it showed the crew quite a creepy grin. "Helloooo!" He said, dragging out the hello longer then it needed to be. He skedaddled up to the group and flapped his arms/wings excitedly.

"Um… hi," Katherine spoke up, giving the bird a look as Rouge took a surprised step back next to her. "We heard that you were saying something about the ARK and want to hear what you have to say about it. We're from G.U.N. so…"

"From G.U.N. I see?" The bird moved so fast it seemed to vanish as it reappeared behind Katherine, putting his hands on her shoulder while chuckling insanely. "A sad group of people. They won't survive longer than five months after they are released." He whispered to her.

Shadow growled and took a step forward as Katherine tensed up from the crazy bird's touch and the bird was suddenly sitting on top of Omega, causing everyone to spin around and looked up at the bird as he frowned down at them. "What do you mean? Who won't survive longer than five months? G.U.N.?" Tails asked nervously.

Omega made no move as the bird let out a cackle. "Wouldn't you like to know? The lover of the fox with two tails dies in within a whale! The hero dies from the grasp of Nero!"

"What the heck are you talking about?" Katherine lifted her fist angrily as she nervously brushed off her shoulders with her other hand. "A whale? And who's Nero?"

"It rhymes of course!" The bird giggled and cocked his head sideways, his bright blue eyes gleaming. "Hurry, hurry to the ARK my friends and you will see that the word is near its end! A button to press? Is that the test? The future tries to stop it to no prevail!"

Omega shook his upper body. "GET OFF PUNY CREATURE." He told it and the bird moved behind Rouge, cackling as everyone spun around to look at him.

"Hurry, hurry to the ARK!" The white bird laughed and then, without another sound, opened its wings and flew to the top of a nearby building and running off again, leaving the group as confused as ever.

"What… was that about?" Knuckles asked, frowning and looking thoughtful. "Hurry, hurry to the ARK…"

"And see that the world is near its end." Amy said, continuing on the bird's words.

"A button to press? Is that the test?" Shadow said quietly.

"The future tries to stop it to no prevail…" Katherine said, her eyes narrowing.

"Well," Sonic chuckled. "It rhymes really well."

"Sonic…" Tails sighed in disbelief. "That's not the point!"

Sonic laughed and waved his hands at the group as everyone glared at him. "Yeah, yeah, but isn't it obvious what we should do now?"

"And what could that be?" Rouge asked, putting a hand on her hip.

"To go to the ARK of course! 'Hurry, hurry to the ARK'!" Sonic said with a grin.

-XXXXXXXX-

TIME= 15 HOURS 56 MINUTES

AREA= OUTSIDE OF REMAINS OF STATION SQUARE: THE NEW FOREST

YEAR= 7 YEARS IN THE FUTURE

Xsus slid to a stop as Clive continued running past him. Clive looked back and frowned, waving a hand. "What are you doing, Xsus? Come on! We have to see FD!"

"There's someone still in Central City…" Xsus muttered to himself. "I can't figure out who it is but it could be a survivor…"

"Survivor?" Clive laughed. "Like that's possible. Everyone's dead but us rebels."

Xsus' eyes narrowed and then suddenly winded again. "It's Sorro!"

"Sorro?!" Clive's eyes widened. "What the heck is that kid doing in the city again…?!"

"Doesn't matter, you head to the Underground City without me," Xsus said as he started running back towards Station Square.

"Xsus! Where are you going?! You're not going to just leave! Father Darkness won't approve…!"

"Screw Father Darkness!" Xsus yelled back as he used his energy to rocket himself back to the sky. As he floated in the air, his style of flying and he glanced back at Clive seriously, "I promised my older brother I'd keep Sorro safe no matter what and I'm going to do just that!"

Clive shook his head angrily as Xsus rocketed across the sky. "He's such an idiot sometimes… makes me wonder if he's still ten."

Xsus' golden ears twitched, he had heard Clive but decided to yell at him later about it as he stopped flying and dropped down onto the tall tower on top of Station Square. He looked at the ground far below him as he put a hand on the lightning rod next to him.

Suddenly, he noticed the lightning rod and reared back from it like the thing was on fire. His eyes narrowed and then softened. He reached out and gently stroked the rod, smiling faintly. This was where his adventure began with Sonic and the others… right here… on this very spot. It was a miracle the building hadn't fallen over yet. He met Cream and Amy up here.

He laughed quietly at the look on Sonic's face when he showed him he could fly, so long ago, during the Day of the Dead.

"Hydro!" a young voice called out from behind and Xsus spun around in surprise, answering to the call name he was given by Father Darkness years ago. All the young recruits called him that, only the old ones that knew him before the war called him Xsus now.

He blinked in surprise as a young boy about five flew up towards him and landed on the edge of the building, he almost fell off but Xsus' fast reflexes caught him before he toppled backwards over the building.

"Thanks, Hydro…" The boy laughed weakly as he sat up and Xsus mentally flinched at the sight of him. He looked so much like his father, with light brown fur with dark brown spots splattered all over him like a paintbrush had gotten lazy while drawing the dots. His catlike ears were perked up and ready while his cat tail swished back and forth. He had his mother's bright blue eyes that looked at him thoughtfully as Xsus took a deep breath.

"Sorro? What are you doing here?!"

"You miss her don't you?" Sorro asked sadly, changing the subject and flattening his ears and his blue eyes filling up sadly.

"Who?"

"Cr—"

"No I don't," Xsus interrupted him, "Now what are you doing here? I told you not to leave the Underground City! You know how disappointed your father would be that you didn't listen to me?"

Sorro flinched at Xsus' words and looked at his black boots. The white T-shirt he wore once belonged to his father, when he was alive, and it was a few sizes too big for him with a black, oval spot in the middle of it. The tan shorts he wore reached past his knees as he looked shamefully away. The brown leather book bag around his shoulder filled with unknown items inside of it hung around his shoulder.

Xsus sighed. "Look… I'm sorry. Yeah, I guess I do miss her a bit."

Sorro turned to Xsus smiling faintly, "Knew it."

Xsus rolled his eyes and ruffled up the top of Sorro's fur on his head and pointed the direction he had flew from. "Alright, let's get back to the city, Clive will wonder if we're dead if we don't show up in a few minutes…"

"Which will be the case…" a dark voice chuckled from behind.

Xsus and Sorro turned back in surprise to see a black hedgehog with neon green stripes running through its upturned quills standing on top of a nearby building. Its black eyes stared expressionlessly at them as Xsus growled angrily, lifting his fists while Sorro whimpered slightly.

"Aero…!" Xsus hissed with distaste, the syllables of his name filled with unexplainable rage and hatred.

Aero the hedgehog smirked as he started walking towards them and Sorro jumped behind Xsus for back protection. Xsus lifted a fist angrily as Aero stopped a foot before them. "What are you doing here?" Xsus barked.

"Looking for two cats whose deaths are long overdue," Aero snickered, "Who should I kill first? How about you little boy…?" Aero leaned back to glance behind Xsus at Sorro, who was trembling in fear as Xsus' ocean blue eyes narrowed.

"Butt out!" Xsus took a step forward, smashing his boot onto the stone ground of the skyscraper with such force it caused Aero to take a surprised step back. "I am your main victim here, not Sorro!"

"Hydro, Hydro…" Aero shook his head and regained the step he lost, smirking. "You can't stop me, and you know it."

Xsus smirked. "I can try. And that's all that matters."

"You lost your girl like what, a month ago? How does it _feel_, Hydro? To be all alone with no one to love you anymore like she did? All alone again? Oh it must be terrible." Aero sneered.

Xsus found himself clenching his fists and fighting back a snarl, "Shut up."

Aero's black eyes seemed to be laughing at Xsus' rage as he continued. "All alone in the world, all that you have left is a team that has given up on fighting. You're doomed. Everyone you care about is going to die anyways, why don't you give up?"

"I said shut up!" Xsus jumped forward and lodged his fist into Aero's face and watched the hedgehog fly through the air and crash through a concrete building as Xsus fought tears forming into his eyes. _Come on!_ Xsus thought to himself angrily. _I just turned seventeen, I can't cry like a baby anymore!_

Aero suddenly jumped through the rubble like the attack did nothing while Sorro let out a surprised shriek. "He's coming! He's coming! What are we going to do?! Hydro! Hydro!"

"Calm down!" Xsus' eyes narrowed and he grabbed Sorro's hand. "Come on, we'll fly our way out of here. He can't fly so he can't chase us."

Sorro pointed to their left nervously. "But _that_ can!"

Xsus turned his attention to his left and his eyes narrowed when he saw a misshapen bat flying towards them with an expressionless face and dull black eyes. Xsus cursed to himself quietly, not loud enough for Sorro to hear of course, he was barely five. The bat was fastest flyer on Aero's death team, of course she had to be here.

The white bat landed on the building as Xsus looked around frantically. She put a hand on her hip and winked at the boys, wearing linen cloth like an Ancient Egyptian and many golden bracelets and necklaces were on her as well as a set of golden earrings. She wore black boots that didn't match with the white linen and gold jewelry. She had huge black wings that were three times the size of Rouge's on her back and if she wanted to, the bat could've covered her whole body with those wings with plenty of room to spare.

Aero laughed at Xsus' behavior. "You won't find any water here, boy!"

Xsus glared at Aero then showed a confident grin. "And that's what you think, Aero!"

"Come on boys, how about a little kiss?" The bat puckered up her fat red lips and Sorro whimpered when she flashed a smile, showing her fangs while Xsus slowly lifted a hand, feeling hundreds of emotions serge through him as he glared at the bat.

"You're a horrible, horrible living being, Tiane," Xsus sneered. "Your fight with Sierra a few years back proved that."

Tiane stuck a plump tongue out of her red lips. "I'm adorable though!"

Xsus showed a dark grin as his hand slowly went above his head. "I hope you look twice as ugly with a bit of water."

Tiane paled as the ground started rumbling and Xsus grabbed Sorro's hand tightly. Then, a blast of water shot out of the skyscraper from underneath them, smashing into Tiane and making her fly backwards and crash into the ground far below with a sickening thud and crack while Xsus growled angrily. "Take that you evil…" He stopped when he remembered Sorro behind him and turned to him before he could swear. "Come on, we need to get out of here."

Sorro nodded, saying nothing as Xsus floated into the sky and after a moment, Sorro did too. Aero pointed up at them angrily. "They're getting away! Tiane!"

Tiane jumped to her feet like the twenty story fall was similar to jumping down a flight of stairs. She hissed at them, making Xsus and Sorro's fur stand on end as she opened her giant bat wings (almost smacking Aero in the face as she did so) and launched herself into the air.

"Fly!" Xsus yelled and he shot off while practically dragging Sorro after him as Tiane flew after them and was gaining quickly thanks to her large black wings.

Sorro looked back and pulled out a small water bottle from his book bag, and looked at Xsus while lifting it up. "Would this help, Hydro?"

Xsus looked at the water bottle and he sighed in disbelief, "Why didn't you show me this sooner, Sorro?!"

"You weren't asking for any water though!" Sorro replied, glaring.

Xsus shook his head and stopped, hovering in mid air as he unscrewed the lid to the water bottle and turned to Tiane as she jumped at them, opening her mouth at an impossible angle with her sharp teeth showing as Xsus smirked, "Wrong move batty!" With that, Xsus willed the water out of the water bottle and flung it at Tiane, it smacked her in the face and as Xsus clenched his fist, the water froze around Tiane's head.

The bat stopped flapping her wings and her heavy head caused her to flip over and fall, spinning, towards to the ground while Xsus grinned. "Take that, that was for Sierra."

Sorro whimpered next to him as Xsus turned to him and waved a hand towards the New Forest. "Come on, Sorro. Let's head back to base."

-XXXXXXXX-

"Where _have_ you been?!" Robyn the fox, or better known as Robyn Prower the long lost older sister of Tails, demanded as she marched up towards Xsus and Sorro as they touched down before the large black cave that led into the Underground City.

Xsus flattened his ears as the grey fox marched towards them angrily, her boots pounding on the ground and her green eyes blazing. "We were all just about to add you to the dead list when you just show up…!"

Sorro reached into his bag and pulled out a plastic bag innocently. "Cookie dough, Robyn?"

Robyn's eyes lit up as she took the bag. "Oh…! Well you're both excused. Father Darkness is waiting for you inside with Clive, Xsus. You might want to hurry."

Sorro and Xsus hurried off, past Robyn and into the dark cave. They reached a blank wall and moved right through it feeling nothing like they just passed through plain air, the wall was actually a holographic device made by the hero Zap himself and the wall was the entire reason why the Underground City was still around.

"Nice job on the cookie dough," Xsus laughed quietly as they reached the elevator behind the wall. Both stepped inside and Sorro pressed a button titled: level 45B. Sorro turned his blue eyes up onto Xsus and grinned as the doors shut.

"Thanks, Hydro," Sorro said. "I never leave home without it."

"Good thing cookie dough is Robyn's weakness or she would've torn our ears out," Xsus chuckled.

Sorro nodded as the elevator suddenly dropped at impossible speeds but the two felt nothing, since the machine was another thing Zap had invented years ago along with the genius fox known as Tails. When they reached the bottom, the elevator doors opened to reveal a blue echidna about Xsus' age looking tired. "Hey Kelly," Xsus said, smiling weakly at his old friend he had met the same day he met Robyn. Both girls were friends met by Sonic and his team while the Dimension Jumpers were dealing with another Follower of Darkness war.

"Oh, hey Xsus," Kelly muttered quietly as she walked into the elevator. "I'm on guard patrol, see you in about an hour or two."

Xsus waved farewell as the elevator doors shut and then shot up through the cave's ceiling at amazing speeds. As soon as the elevator was gone, he looked at Sorro next to him. "Go find Jason, I'm sure he has something for you to do."

_Xsus' POV_

"Yes, Hydro," Sorro saluted and ran off and I watched him go sadly as I looked around the world of the Underground City. Tents were scattered here and there, most of them empty since their owners had died off over the past seven nightmarish years. Artificial lights made out of light magic shined down on us from the dirt ceiling above as I started walking through the alleyways of tents, hearing people coughing and muttering quietly all around me.

This was what I always imagined world war three to end up looking like.

"Xsus!" A voice called and I looked over in surprise as Sonic the hedgehog ran up to me. He wore his sneakers still but he now wore a tattered cloak along with fingerless black gloves, a black shirt, and black pants. I smiled faintly at what Sierra had done to the hedgehog as Sonic looked at me with his emerald green eyes. "Where have you been?! Where's Xerius' kid?"

"He's fine, we got into a fight with Aero and Tiane on the way over." I explained to him.

Sonic growled angrily at the two's names. After a moment, he took a deep breath, closing his eyes and looking at the ground. "I hate this war."

I put a hand on his shoulder, which seemed sad since Sonic was twenty-four now. War never did good things to anyone, even the children. It could even break the strongest men. "I know, I do too but I think it's all going to change soon."

"I hope so," Sonic muttered, "I want my girl back," With that, the blue blur turned around and walked away with his head hanging low and his footsteps dragging on the ground as he went off in search of Jason and Sorro.

I shook my head sadly before heading towards the left wall of the cave and soon found myself facing a tall black door. As I walked, I thought about the horrible things that happened over the years, so many people were dead, friends and enemies, woman, men, and children, people of all kinds brutally killed by a mistake made seven years ago. I knocked on the door quietly and waited for a moment until I heard the cold words, "Come in."

Without another thought or sound, I went inside.


	3. Chapter 3

**Me "'What do cells do'… and I have to write a paragraph about this?"**

**Flame *shrugs and looks out a nearby window***

**Me *slams the notebook close and wipes invisible dust off my hands before turning to the computer* "Humph, I'll answer that one later. Anyways, hi there and welcome to the next chapter of **_**This is War**_**. Thanks goes to the **_**ohana**_** (I've been spelling it wrong… haha) for reviewing: Strife, Chaos, UFO, Storm, raeweis, Rya, and Amicus! Thanks also goes to the new reviewer: Retto the Otter!**

**Strife= Yeah, I've never been in a real war so I can't explain it entirely well (except from those horrifying war stories you read about where you slowly lean backwards from the book/poem in disgust). But glad to see that you think I did a good job. Anyways, yeah, the future really is depressing.  
Flame *points sword at Nazo* "Out. Now."  
Hydro *nods* "It's pretty terrible out there… wish some things never happened. Guess you see what I mean though with every day wondering if it's your last. It's like your own personal he…"  
Katherine *walks by and swats Hydro* "No swearing water boy. Don't forget your past, ten-year-old self is nearby along with Sorro."  
Hydro *rubs head and shakes it in disbelief***

**Storm= *watches you jump up and down excitedly* Well! Glad to see that I've gotten your OCs right! Score! Aero was fun (and also annoying) to write. How he mocked Xsus was pretty irritating but he's such a good bad guy too! And yes. Robyn got some cookie dough. Good thing Kelly was on her way up for guard duty!**

**Chaos= CHAOS! Where in the name of the Light Givers have you been?! *shakes head and sighs* Well as long as you're back, I'm good, haha. Anyways, so I suppose there's nothing you want changed to your story then? And yes. Chaos will be in it in a later chapter (in fact I'm probably writing the chapter as you read this… unless it's like midnight my time *laughs*) and the book was named after the song, both fit pretty well! Wow, your normal ramblings stopped, what happened there? I kind of enjoyed those… well either way, welcome back! *smiles***

**UFO= Okay good, I was hoping the bird wasn't too wacked out. And yeah, I can tell you right here that Zap's dead in the future, depressing really, and that this story will have a twist in it. With Tails… *waves a hand* you'll find out. And yeah, I have a thing with swords, they're amazing in my opinion. Sad, then what weapon would you use? A gun? Oh! Glad you liked the disclaimer, I was running out of ideas and Amicus mentioned Neverland and I laughed and put it up.**

**Raeweis= Glad your liking it! I was worried I was confusing people with the future to the past jumps or visa versa. The insane bird… *laughs* that was by far one of the funniest parts to write ever. But the rhymes the bird made are important and true… you'll find out soon how…!**

**Retto the Otter= *thoughtful look* I'm calling you Retto. *nods* Okay, now that I got a nickname for you I can move on. *laughs* Anyways, personally I think the Return was **_**much**_** darker than this one is. And the mistake that set up this war… well… you'll find out soon. Lol! Yes, I suppose if that's the case you won't have to worry about Zap going after you with spoons anymore for not reviewing.  
Zap "Hey…!"  
*clears throat while trying not to laugh* anyways, thanks for catching my mistake. It is supposed to be Ohana. We all kind of slowly became a strange writing family during the reviews of the Return when all the critics came after me so yeah. I obviously haven't seen Lilo and Stitch in years…!**

**Amicus= *laughs* Yeah! Finger dancing! Anyways, glad you liked the disclaimer! It was actually quite a lot of fun to write! And yeah… that bird really is confusing and yes again, FD is still alive in this messed up future. Time travel could be fun… it depends on who takes you haha.  
You caught on fast! Yes. Sorro's dad is Xerius… so weird. Anyways, yes. Future Xsus is missing Cream, you'll see how much and why later though.  
Sonic "W-what?! N-no!"  
Xsus *laughs and pokes you back while doing a weird finger dance***

**Rya= Yeah! Pirates! It was a brilliant idea brought by Amicus *laughs* it was awesome. Yeah, that's true too.  
Xsus *shrugs* "I don't know…!"  
Hydro "I keep it. Just not many call me Xsus anymore." *shrugs* "Guess the personality switch was because of all these hard years too."  
Me "You are just as bad as Xerius."  
Hydro "I am not!"  
Me *snickers* "Anyways, yes. NO ONE PRESS ANY BUTTONS. And hey! With those riddles you might get a new prediction! Hurry, hurry to the ARK… and don't press any buttons :P. Oh my gosh when Amy finds out they kissed…! *busts up laughing* Haha! Ahem, moving on, I know! I'd love to rhyme like that off the top of my head!  
Xsus is a Follower of Darkness…? Hmm but it'll all be explained later on on what's going on exactly!  
Xerius *rubs head angrily and glares at you* **_**"Humph! I didn't knock of anyone! I got married in the future because I didn't know if the next day was going to be my last! Besides some time warps got involved and I'm older then I should be in the future anyways."**_**  
Yeah… things are about to get quite interesting…**

**Disclaimer= Chaos *waves to the others excitedly* "Hey! HEY! You guys I've found it!"  
*everyone runs over to the end of the rainbow to see Chaos standing next to a pot of gold*  
Storm *grins* "You found the pot of gold!"  
Strife "Good job, Chaos!"  
Blackie *looks at the map she's been carrying* "I can't believe this thing was right. Who knew you could find such great things at Wal-Mart, thanks Retto for helping us out."  
Retto *shrugs* "It was no big deal."  
Amicus *walks up to the pot of gold and frowns as she picks up a piece of paper on top of the pot. Opens it and skims over the words with a frown* "Uh… hey guys, check this out."  
Raeweis "What does it say…? Oh… that's weird. 'Sonic and company belong to SEGA, BlackSandHeart owns the Dimension Jumpers, BlackStormNomad owns Aero, Kelly, and Robyn, and Strife the Dark 152 owns some of the ideas in this story. Good luck finding the pot of gold again. Signed, Mr. Leprechaun'...?"  
*All become quiet and then let out a surprised yelp as the pot of gold disappears*  
UFO "Aw that's not even funny…!"  
Rya *grumbles* "Now we have to find a new map…!" *sighs* "Back to Wal-Mart I suppose…"**

Chapter Three=

TIME= 12 HOURS 02 MINUTES

AREA= SPACE COLONY ARK

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

"…Control!" Shadow the hedgehog yelled and then fell to the ground along with the rest of his team. They all looked around the dark hallways of the ARK and frowned when they all remembered last time they were here things were going by much worse since Black Doom had been attacking.

Katherine sat up slowly and looked around with a frown on her face, "So… what are we supposed to be looking for here?"

"Something that seems like trouble, does anyone remember what that crazy bird said next?" Knuckles asked and everyone turned to Sonic expectantly.

"What? Just because… oh wait, hang on, I remember, 'hurry hurry up to the ARK my friends and you will see that the word is near its end'," Sonic said with a frown.

"And see the world is near its end? That doesn't sound good," Rouge said as she put a hand on her hip.

"It could be the Black Arms!" Tails said worriedly, "They could've somehow returned!"

"After being blasted off by the Eclipse Cannon?" Katherine scoffed as she remembered what happened last time, "I think not!"

Shadow shrugged as he put the Chaos Emerald he had grabbed at Tails' workshop as they dropped off the X-Tornado away, "We might as well start looking around for something."

The others nodded, liking the idea as Shadow pointed down one of the nearby hallways, "If we go that way then we should reach the Stargazing Room, that will give us a good view of the outside world of the ARK and from there we can see if the threat is outside of the ARK or inside."

"I still can't believe we're following a crazy bird's advice!" Amy said with a frown, "I mean, come on, what bad thing could happen on this old thing?"

Everyone gave her a look and Amy sighed in defeat, shrugging her shoulders as she did so.

Shadow led the way down the hallway with the others following close behind him. After a few twists and turns they stopped next to a large metal door and all of them stopped and looked up at it. The large doors seemed to tower high above their heads and everyone frowned at the red light flashing under the door.

Sonic whistled at the height of the doors, "Dang! I bet a giant could fit through here easy!"

Shadow said nothing as he moved up to the control panel next to the doors and typed in the password. There was a moment of silence as Shadow took a step back and the metal doors suddenly opened.

Everyone's eyes widened when they saw the inside of the room's lights flashing red and the female, robotic voice saying ever so calmly: _"Emergency… emergency…"_

"Oh crap…" Katherine muttered, her eyes widening.

-XXXXXXXX-

TIME= 16 HOURS 00 MINUTES

AREA= FD'S QUARTERS

YEAR= 7 YEARS IN THE FUTURE

Xsus walked into the room silently and squinted because of how dark it was in the room. His blue eyes were almost slits when his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness and he was able to make out three figures in the darkness.

They were all sitting on a plush velvet rug in the middle of the room and were both looking at him expectantly, except one looked more irritated to see him while the other looked happy to have him there. The rest of the room was too black to make out anything as Xsus blindly walked into the room and sat down next to the happier one to see him, Clive.

"Sorry I'm late," Xsus muttered as he sat down. He turned his attention the human, nine-year-old boy before him who seemed to blend in with the darkness _way_ too well, "But I'm here now. I hear the machine's able to work."

The boy's eyes glittered for a moment as Clive coughed and spoke up, "Um, according to Father Darkness, Tails managed to get the machine working and if we combine it with my time abilities then we can send ourselves to the past and fix this mistake."

Xsus blinked in surprise. He never knew what the machine was supposed to do in general. All that he was told was that it was going to make everything right again and Clive's time traveling abilities weren't unknown. He had the ability to travel into the future… but not into the past. From what Xsus suddenly realized, the machine was going to help Clive be able to travel backwards in time.

"Why am I here then?" Xsus frowned, "Since Clive can time travel can't he just do this all by himself?"

"Funny," The boy finally spoke up and as he did, the temperature in the room dropped twenty-degrees, making Xsus and Clive shiver from the cold. The voice sounded like it belonged to someone who was nineteen or twenty, nowhere near the age of nine. The boy let out a dark chuckle that brought chills up Xsus' and Clive's spines, "I thought you would've figured it out by now. If just Clive traveled into the past, no one would have an easy time believing he is from a messed up future, am I correct?"

Xsus and Clive could only nod, that voice gave both of them the creeps so neither dared to argue.

The boy continued, lifting a pale white hand as he did so, "If we send you into the past as well, Hydro, then the people of the past will have an easier time believing you."

Xsus nodded, answering to his call name again, "But, Father Darkness, sir, there's a glitch in time traveling, right? Once you change the past the events of it can change the future, correct?"

The boy known as Father Darkness chuckled again then sighed, "Correct. That means when time is fixed; none of this would ever happen. Some of us won't even exist! Pitiful thing really, but I'd rather have that then have none of us exist anymore."

Xsus growled, "You're just saying that because you're immortal. It's not like seven years ago you weren't alive!"

Father Darkness let out an evil laugh that bounced off the walls of every side of the room before turning his attention to Xsus, "Hydro, Hydro! I will not deny that you are correct. I still do not have a care for any Light Givers outside this door. But, I think we all want to be in a better future. Disappearing is just a step we'll have to be ready to take in order for this to happen."

The boy suddenly stood and vanished into the darkness. His voice suddenly rang out in one corner of the room and Xsus and Clive glanced backwards to where the voice was coming from, next to the door, "I truly do not have a care for anyone or anything. But ever since that day seven years ago I regret not doing anything sooner. All my finest fighters were killed within three years of the battle when they invaded my… our dimension."

Father Darkness' voice suddenly appeared again in another corner of the room and Xsus and Clive's head swirled in the voice's direction again, "We will all die if this continues, boys. The past is all that we have left. I refuse to let that blasted hedgehog and his deranged groups of minions destroy us all."

Xsus frowned, "So… Clive and I are going into the past, we're going to stop the event from ever happening and when we do… we'll disappear?"

Father Darkness' voice was next to the door again, "Humph, if all goes well, correct. If you do not disappear though, don't bother coming back. This mistake is what caused this, make sure the mistake doesn't come back."

"Yes sir," Clive and Xsus said simultaneously.

"It has been… somewhat… of an honor serving both of you. May we meet again as enemies, as it is supposed to be." Father Darkness chuckled as the door suddenly opened slowly on its own, its hinges squealing as it opened and bright light shined inside the dark room. The boys squinted and could barely see Father Darkness' black figure next to the doorway and his black eyes that had no light shining in them stared at the boys seriously. His black hair hung in his eyes as both boys stood up and dipped their heads respectfully to the immortal.

"Get out and go find Tails." Father Darkness suddenly said, jerking his thumb out the door and both boys quickly left as the door slammed shut behind them.

Clive looked back at the door and put his hands behind his head, "Well, that was that, looks like we'll never be seeing him again."

"Unless he pops up in the other dimension," Xsus reminded him.

Clive shrugged, "True, true! Now let's go find Tails!"

The boys then ran off in search of the two tailed fox.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Papa…?" A small seedrian asked as she peaked into the room. She looked shockingly similar to Cosmo but had red at the end of her dress and red shoes that were more of a muddy red than a blood colored red.

Tails the fox looked back and smiled weakly at the girl as he took his goggles off his face, "Oh there you are. What's wrong?"

The girl walked up and rocked back and forth on her heels, "Hydro and Clive are outside, they want to see you."

"Xsus?" Tails sat up quickly and then moved to the end of the tent. As he walked out, he had to stop and watch as five-year-old Sorro ran by laughing like a fool holding a bucket of water above his head triumphantly.

Tails shook his head and then walked out the door, finding two serious boys standing in front of him.

"Xsus, Clive, what are you two doing here? Did Father Darkness already send you…?" Tails asked quietly.

Clive nodded, "Yeah, he sent us for the machine."

"It hasn't been tested yet…" Tails started to warn but stopped when Clive waved a hand at the fox.

"We'll have to take that risk if we're going to save the future."

Sorro suddenly stopped next to Tails and looked up at Xsus, "Hey Hydro! Where you going?"

Xsus bent down and looked Sorro in the eye. When he spoke, it was quiet, like he was trying to keep Sorro from crying, "I'm going away for awhile."

Sorro's eyes widened in terror, "What? You're coming back though, right Xsus? You're all the family I have left!"

Xsus flinched at Sorro's words but forced a smile, "Don't worry 'bout it, Sorro. I'll… I'll be back… soon." Xsus nodded like he was satisfied with his words and all three frowned as Sorro's eyes lit up excitedly.

"Yay! As long as you come back! You're the only family I have left Xsus! There wouldn't be a point of living without you around!" Sorro cried cheerfully and then he squeezed past them, out of the tent and into the Underground City.

As soon as Sorro was out of sight, Xsus bowed his head shamefully, "I hate lying," He muttered to the fox and raccoon.

Tails put a comforting hand on the cat's shoulder, "Don't worry about it, Xsus. Now come on inside, the machine is ready for both of you to use it."

The fox led them inside his tent. The room was lit with never ending torches Tails had built to light the roads of the tent city at night. The ground below them was covered with soft rugs and the seedrian from earlier ducked out of view as both boys walked into the tent.

"Over here," Tails waved a hand and led them to the back of the tent where a large cylinder machine stood. It had a revolving glass door along with metal surrounding it on all sides. It was connected with many wires up to a tall desk that Tails walked up to. He pressed a red button on the machine and the glass doors opened up with a hiss, letting steam out into the air. The fox waved a hand at the machine, looking at them sadly.

"Thank you for all that you've done Tails," Xsus said as Clive climbed into the machine without looking back.

Tails smiled at the cat, "You're welcome, Xsus. Make the future a better place for all of us. It was nice knowing you."

"You too, Tails."

The two gave each other a quick hug and Tails sighed at the machine, "If only Zap was here to help me finish it, or even Silver for that matter…"

"As long as you finished it, that's all that matters, right?" Xsus said seriously.

Tails nodded, looking sad for a moment. The fox's ears twitched and he looked to the doorway and both boys watched Sonic and Shadow the hedgehog walk into the room. Shadow crossed his arms and glared at them, "Humph, Faker thought it would be suitable if I said goodbye."

"I'll bring your family back," Xsus said, ignoring Shadow's dark humor, "I'll bring them all back."

Shadow nodded, "You better. The future needs to be brighter than all of us wondering if a monster is hiding behind the corner and wondering if this day will be our last."

Sonic sighed, "I'd say tell everyone I said hi but I don't know if that's an option since I'm already in that time period."

Xsus laughed, "Well, it's been nice working with you guys."

"Xsus?" Clive called out behind him and everyone glanced back at the raccoon as he shrugged innocently, "Any day now would be nice."

"I'm coming, good heavens," Xsus rolled his eyes and turned to the two hedgehogs in front of him again, "Tell Jason and Knuckles I said goodbye."

"Well, if you fix the past we won't have to," Shadow said dryly.

Sonic chuckled but his laugh sounded forced, "We will, don't worry about it Xsus. And we'll keep an eye on Sorro for you too."

"Thanks," Xsus smiled faintly then turned and walked into the machine next to Clive. The raccoon next to him put his hand into a small slot next to him and turned to Tails as the fox lifted his hand over a button.

"You want me to just shoot my energy in here, Tails?"

The fox laughed, "Of course, Clive! Or else you're not going to time travel anywhere!"

Clive rolled his eyes, smiling faintly while Xsus crossed his arms, and gave a look that looked similar to his old friend Xerius'. Tails pressed a button and the glass door closed on the two of them. Shadow turned to Sonic, "For a better future?"

"For a better future," Sonic nodded in agreement, "Press the button Tails."

Tails nodded and pressed a blue button and the revolving doors started spinning around the boys at a surprising rate. The wind picked up around them as Clive concentrated his energy into the slot and lightning flashed around them. Xsus took a startled step back as the scenery around them turned white, the view of the inside of Tails' tent disappearing forever.

"For a better future," Tails muttered as he pressed the yellow button. Then, a flash of bright light and Xsus felt his world flip upside down and right side up while he felt himself being pulled upwards. Then, the light disappeared and Xsus felt himself suddenly falling as he closed his eyes tightly.

He let out a cry as he crashed into solid asphalt and rolled over quickly, feeling sick to his stomach as his mind spun. After a moment, everything stopped spinning and Xsus slowly opened his eyes, which widened to see he was underneath a blue sky and was in a familiar, healthy forest green park.

Xsus stood up and watched a couple ride bikes in front of him and Xsus' eyes widened.

He had time traveled back into the past.

**There you go! Another chapter down! Thanks for reading and please do… Flame?! What are you doing?!**

**Flame *glances back as she climbs out the window* "I'm going."**

**Me "Where…?"**

**Flame *gives me a look* "If I wanted you to know I would've told you."**

**Me *scowls* "Oh whatever. Don't stay gone for long."**

**Flame *jumps out the window without saying anything***

**Me *sighs* "Anyways, thanks for reading and please do leave a review! Oh, and while I remember Strife the Dark 152 posted up the next chapter in his story so go over and read that… after you leave a review *laughs*."**


	4. Chapter 4

**Me "Break our necks, humph, wonder how well that'll work for him."**

**Windy *glances over* "You're still rambling on about that?"**

**Me *sits up on the bed and lifts a fist angrily* "No one should have any right to threaten my friends like that!"**

**Windy *shakes head* "Well you shouldn't go pick a fight with him."**

**Me *lies on the bed again* "Humph."**

**Windy "Anyways, hello readers and welcome to the next chapter of the story…! Oh, don't worry about the author. She's ranting on again about school."**

**Me "AM NOT!"**

**Windy *snickers* "So, sorry the chapter's a little short today but a special thanks goes to her Ohana for reviewing the last chapter: Storm, Strife, Rya, UFO, raeweis, and Amicus! Thanks also goes to the new guy that BlackSandHeart over here is respecting for reviewing again: Retto!"**

**Storm= I know! But don't worry they'll come back soon, promise! Anyways, yeah emergency… let's see how this one turns out… *laughs weakly***

**Strife= *watches Nazo fly off screen and laughs* Anyways, *clears throat* yes. Hopefully the team from the future can stop the… ah… problems that'll be showing up sooner or later—but you know about half of them already haha.**

**Rya= No predictions?! *sighs* Anyways, stay in bio! We'll suffer through it together haha. You got yourself outta math too you lucky duck...  
Hydro *shrugs*  
If you told… ooooh… new disclaimer idea for the next chapter… *sly smile*  
Sorro *lifts up his book bag sheepishly* "Well… everything I need to survive is in this thing for starters."  
Lol! Me too! But the closest one to my house is really lame, like nothing's there *scowls* But I know what a real Wally-world looks like haha.  
Shadow *totally speechless*  
Anyways, haha, I could see you going after FD… and while I'm at this, Zap too. Well for the people who are missing… I have a long note here somewhere, off the top of my head I can tell you that Windy, Zap, Katherine, Shade, Tikal… um… who else, oh! Chaos, Maria, and… I can't think of anyone else at the moment is dead in the future. Oh! And Ria, Chase, and Xerius (of course). Good heavens… Xsus meeting Xsus… I see the end of the world coming *laughs* Aha! Someone caught on with the 'fixing the future' rules! See? You get it, changing the past changes the future and that doesn't mean it's always a good thing…**

**UFO= Yeah, Xerius is dead… *sighs* Wow that sounds like an interesting book! I kind of want to read it now… Retto… if he reviews five times then I'll put him in with the Ohana, he hasta show some loyalty! *laughs* but so far I'm kind of enjoying him reviewing, he's making me laugh just like everyone else usually does haha. Spears huh? That's pretty awesome actually, I might just let you run around with one of those in a disclaimer haha. Oh! You're welcome! Glad someone's liking it when I do that. I try to keep you guys intact with each other since we **_**are**_** an Ohana.**

**Raeweis= I know… I know…! I feel like the Master of Cliffhangers… hang on… You did pretty good on your Tails Doll story with the cliffhangers lol we're both good, never mind. Agree with you there! I hope Clive and Xsus can save the future…**

**Amicus= Oh light be with you on your test! Ah, who am I kidding, you'll do fine! Yes, haha, you found the disclaimer! And you found it in a pot of gold! *applauds then laughs* you call it wally-world too sometimes? I thought it was just me! So you like FD? Glad, he's by far my favorite bad guy OC… Sierra don't give me that look.  
Sierra *scowls and looks away*  
Anyways, glad you liked the chapter! I try to post daily because I'm ahead of you guys in the story but you people are catching up to me fast! Oh well *shrugs* it's worth it.**

**Retto= *anime tear drop* Zappy boy, you can you try to refrain from shocking the new guy?  
Zap *mutters and walks out of the room*  
*clears throat while laughing* ANYWAYS, glad you liked the nickname, Retto! So, Retto the Otter is your full name just like Strife the Dark is Strife's, haha. Oh, while I remember, I'll make a deal with you Retto. If you review on five chapters of my story (you already reviewed two so you have just three more left) I'll let you become a part of the Ohana since you seem like a nice guy *grins* **

**DISCLAIMER= Blackie *hears doorbell ring* "I got it!" *climbs out of seat at the table where everyone is playing Go Fish with Face Cards and runs to the front door. Opens it and takes a started step back*  
FD *holding a letter with a dead serious look on his face* "Letter for you."  
Blackie *slams door close in his face* "WINDY!" *runs upstairs*  
Amicus "Well… that was weird. I wonder what's wrong?"  
Strife "I'll check it out."  
UFO "I'll come with you."  
Amicus "Be careful…! The last thing we need is to worry about being chased by any rabid bears again…"  
Rya "That wasn't my fault, I'm serious!"  
Storm *laughs* "That was a weird day."  
Strife *opens front door and looks at an irritated FD* "Father Darkness… what are you doing here?"  
FD *hands Strife the letter* "Give this to the author."  
UFO "You didn't put any dangerous chemicals in here, did you?"  
FD "Funny… but no. Good day." *vanishes as Strife opens the letter*  
Strife *frowns as he takes the paper out* "It's the disclaimer. 'Sonic and company belong to SEGA, BlackSandHeart owns the Dimension Jumpers, BlackStormNomad owns Aero, Robyn, and Kelly, and I, Strife the Dark 152, own some ideas that were put in the story'. Well, that's that."  
UFO *calls upstairs* "He's gone!"  
Blackie *somewhere upstairs* "Like that changes anything!"  
Raeweis *comes in with the others* "What happened?"  
Strife *hands disclaimer to her* "FD sent us the disclaimer."  
Amicus *stares* "FD?!"  
Rya *starts running for the door* "Let me at him!"  
Storm "Hang on! I don't think he's there anymore!"  
Strife *nods as Retto takes the disclaimer from raeweis* "Yeah, he's not there anymore."  
Retto "Well, this certainly looks interesting." *laughs*  
Blackie *comes down the stairs looking irritated* "If anyone asks… that never happened."**

CHAPTER FOUR=

TIME= 12 HOURS 15 MINUTES

AREA= SPACE COLONY ARK

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

Shadow the hedgehog ran into the room with Katherine right next to him. The two looked around the room nervously before looking at each other.

"Could it…?"

Shadow shook his head, interrupting his sister. "No, there's no logical way for that to happen. Gerald's dead. There is no way he could've turned it on."

Katherine nodded, looking thoughtful for a moment as the others ran into the room, looking up at the flashing red lights above them.

"What do you think we should do about those lights? Is it just some security bleacher that went off when we Chaos Controlled on here?" Sonic asked.

Shadow glanced up at the lights before looking at Sonic. "Impossible. If that was the case it would've gone off over the many times we've all been here before today."

Rouge glanced in the corner of the room and her eyes lit up when she saw a giant glass container. Inside the container was a pedestal that had a blood red button sitting in the center of it. Rouge walked up to the container and put her hands on the glass. "What do you suppose this is?" She asked the others and they all looked over at her before gathering around the container.

Katherine frowned and poked the glass, but it did nothing. She shrugged at Rouge. "I've never seen it before, have you Shadow?"

Shadow shook his head no as well as Rouge turned to face the button again. "Well, it must be important if it's guarded by this glass. Maybe the button hides a secret room that's filled with treasure!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "We all know that's a lie. Why would they hide treasure on a place like this?"

Rouge scowled at Knuckles then crossed her arms and lifted her nose into the air angrily. "Humph! It wasn't like I was asking you for your opinion anyways, Knuckie!"

Knuckles blinked as Shadow scowled. "Either way, maybe the button will turn off the flashing red lights."

Amy suddenly jumped forward and lifted her hammer into the air. "Out of the way! I'll smash that thing into the ground like it never existed!"

Sonic lifted his hands. "Wait! Amy!"

It was too late though, the pink hedgehog slammed her hammer onto the glass and it made a shuddering boom before the glass chipped apart and fell onto the ground. Amy pulled back her hammer and blinked in surprise when the hammer suddenly split in half at the handle. "What…?!" She demanded as the front part of her hammer smashed into the glass scattered on the ground.

"I was going to warn you that the glass looked a bit harder than it should be." Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Sorry!" Amy rubbed the back of her head and laughed nervously.

Rouge walked up to the button that was still intact with a bit of glass on it and frowned. "Hey Omega, is there anything dangerous about the button you can pick up with your scanners?"

Omega took a step forward, his feet crashing into the broken glass at his feet as he spoke up. "NEGATIVE. I DETECT NO NEGATIVE ENERGY SURROUNDING THE BUTTON."

Suddenly, a female robotic voice spoke up and everyone looked to the ceiling in surprise. _"Hello Gerald Robotnik."_

The flashing red lights dimmed and everyone looked around in confusion. "Gerald?" Katherine scoffed after a moment, "He's dead."

"Tell that to the machine then," Knuckles muttered and Katherine shot a glare angrily in his direction.

_"Would you like to release all forms in Data Plan B?"_ The robotic voice asked after a moment of awkward silence.

"Data plan B…?" Sonic wondered aloud. "What the heck does that mean?"

_"Data Plan B, would you like it to be released? Press the red button if you wish for all forms in Data Plan B to be released." _The female voice continued.

"All forms to be released…? Data Plan B…? Is this ringing a bell for you Shadow because I have nothing." Katherine said with a shrug as she turned towards the black hedgehog.

Shadow shook his head no, looking just as thoughtful.

_"Data Plan B,"_ The robotic voice continued.

Sonic looked at the button. "It could be a trap, don't forget that Gerald did try to kill all of us once."

The others nodded and Katherine shook her head. "Whatever, let's get out of here before something bad happens."

"Wait," Shadow suddenly said, he lifted a hand and everyone turned to look at him in surprise. "The machine said 'release all forms in Data Plan B', right?"

The others nodded their heads slowly, wondering where Shadow was getting with this.

Shadow snapped. "All forms, this must mean… there were more experiments! That means that if we press the button it releases them all from their prisons!"

"But what if it isn't…! And what if they're all insane, haywire projects like Project Night?!" Katherine cried as she took a step forward, standing in front of Shadow.

Shadow shook his head at Katherine. "All experiments deserve to live the lives they want to live."

"Wait, Shadow…!" Katherine lifted out a hand to stop her brother as the black hedgehog walked up towards the red button. He stared at it seriously then lifted a fist angrily and was about to slam it into the ground when a sudden blast of water knocked the hedgehog off his feet.

Everyone spun around in surprise to see a figure hiding in the shadows. Katherine pulled out her sword and pointed it at the figure as the others turned to help Shadow to his feet. "Who are you? Show yourself!"

Shadow grumbled something to himself angrily as he stumbled to his feet and lifted his fists. "You dare to hit me?!"

The figure said nothing and Shadow threw a Chaos Spear in their direction. The figure jumped skillfully onto the ceiling and bounced out of the room without looking back. Shadow growled to himself and Sonic pointed at the door, "After it!"

Everyone raced after the figure as they cleverly stayed to the shadows of the lights, not revealing their faces and was easily outrunning all of them. Sonic and Shadow alike both kicked it up and left the others in the dust, running at almost full speed after the runaway.

The figure hopped into another room and Shadow smirked to himself. "It's a dead end, whoever it is just trapped themselves."

Both hedgehogs turned around the corner into the room and slid to a stop to see a golden cat, seventeen years old or so, with messy clothes and an irritated look on his face.

"Xsus?!" Both Shadow and Sonic yelped at the same time, their eyes widening as the future Xsus clenched his hand into a fist and water shot out of the walls around him. The water slowly solidified and then dropped into Xsus' outstretched hand as a sword made entirely out of ice.

Xsus bent down and lifted the sword. "You don't want to do this." He said seriously.

Sonic and Shadow lifted their fists. Sonic spoke nervously after a moment of silence. "Xsus, come on, you know us! We're your friend!"

Xsus didn't even blink, he just continued to give them the serious stare with his sword raised. Sonic took a surprised step back. _He's nothing like the little kid I used to know! _He thought to himself nervously.

Shadow conjured up a Chaos Spear and lifted it up for Xsus to see. "You have three seconds to explain yourself, boy."

"Boy?" Xsus lowered his sword and stood up tall, looking annoyed. "I'm anything but, we both look about the same age now, Shadow."

Shadow growled angrily. "What just happened to the ten-year-old boy that I used to know?"

"I'm not him anymore."

"What?!" Sonic cocked his head sideways in confusion. "What the heck are you talking about Xsus?"

Xsus ignored Sonic as he lifted a hand to his face and scowled. "Why am I not disappearing…?!"

"He must've hit his head." Shadow retorted.

Xsus glared at Shadow and looked away. "You wouldn't understand. Or believe me for that matter."

Suddenly, from behind them, the others ran into the room and Katherine slid to a stop when she saw the boy and her eyes widened in shock and terror. "Xsus?!"

**Me *glances at the door as a knock is heard* "Come in!"**

**Zap *walks into the room flipping through the letters from the mailbox* "You got a few disclaimers in your junk mail today."**

**Me *scowls* "FD will not give up on this will he?"**

**Zap *shrugs and throws the letters at me* "It's your junk mail."**

**Me "Oh thanks for the help!"**

**Zap *walks out* "No problem!"**

**Windy *looks at the letters scattered on the floor* "How about another round of Go Fish with face cards with the other authors?"**

**Me *nods* "Let's go. Oh! And please do leave a review, reader!"**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi readers! Sorry for the delayed update… **_**someone**_** decided it would be hilarious to screw up the internet connection…**

**Zap "Look, they threatened me, I threw lightning, they dodged, not my mistake."**

**Me *rolls eyes* "So, I waited many, **_**many**_**, hours (and somehow resisted strangling Zap and a few others) for people to fix that someone's mistake so I could bring this to you readers. However, the mistake still hasn't been fixed so I had to post this up fast."**

**Zap "Then, Xsus started running around the room throwing water everywhere…"**

**Me "Not now. Seriously. I'm mad at you as it is. Anyways, thanks goes to the Ohana for reviewing: Strife, Amicus, Chaos, Storm, UFO, Rya, Chaos and thanks also goes to Retto!"**

**Me (still) "…I'd thank you all personally but because of the internet connection got screwed up and I'm a bit in a rush I think I'll just say some random things just to pass time away because this is going up as soon as things work again. I'll thank you all personally again in the next chapter… anyways… uh… huh…  
You know, Zap was actually my first OC? No, seriously he was. Zap, Windy, and Father Darkness were my first OCs and came into existence when I was only ten. Weird huh? That explains why I have high respects for them… **_**when they didn't break the internet connection**_**!"**

**Zap "Look I'm telling you…!"**

**Me *waves a hand at him* "No, shut it, you've done your damage."**

**FD *walks in* "High respect…?"**

**Me "No. There's none for you. Get out. Now." *points to the door and FD leaves while smirking***

**Zap (after a moment of silence) "Are you done being mad at me?"**

**Me "No, the internet had been down for three days. I'm not going to be done being mad at you for a **_**long**_** while."**

**DISCLAIMER= So, I owe you one big time *sighs* so I hope this works. Funny if you think about it, there are seven of us in the Ohana. That's quite a large family. Okay, okay, eight, don't want to forget about me. And we might even get nine if Retto reviews again.  
Blackie *runs into the room wearing rubber gloves with Strife* "No one touch any doorknobs."  
Rya *looks up from their game of Go Fish with face cards* "Uh… why not?"  
Strife *shrugs* "Sorro's trying to pull a prank on Xerius."  
Blackie *crosses arms* "And some of us might get caught in the crossfire."  
UFO "Well then, looks like we can't touch any doorknobs."  
Amicus *grins* "Aha! I found the Disclaimer card! 'Sonic and company belong to SEGA, BlackSandHeart owns the Dimension Jumpers, BlackStormNomad owns Robyn, Kelly, and Aero, and Strife the Dark 152 owns some of the ideas for the story'. Looks like I win!"  
Chaos *throws cards into the pile with the others* "Aw! Come on! You cheated!"  
Amicus "I did not!"  
Storm *trying not to laugh* "Okay people, no fighting!"  
Xerius *walks in flicking a hand like its burning and looking irritated* **_**"So, who's idea was it to shock the doorknobs?"**_**  
Blackie *shrugs* "Uh… I don't know…"  
Sorro *glances into the room and Xerius sighs*  
Xerius **_**"You little…!"**_**  
Sorro *laughs and runs off*  
Raeweis "There he goes, go get him!"  
Xerius *rolls his eyes* **_**"He'll be back in a minute."**_**  
Retto "Until then, who's ready for another round of this game?"  
Blackie *Takes off the gloves and sits down with Strife* "Deal me in."**

TIME= 12 HOURS 28 MINUTES

AREA= VANILLA THE RABBIT'S HOME

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

"Xsus?" Vanilla the rabbit asked politely as she glanced over at the small ten-year-old boy with the biggest blue eyes she had ever seen. Xsus balanced the large cookie sheet in his hands and stumbled over to the left, then the right as he looked at her, barely able to keep his balance.

"Yes, Mrs. Vanilla?" He asked as he stumbled to the left again.

"Can you bring the cookies over here so you can give them to Ria?" Vanilla asked as she stirred the contents inside a pink plastic bowl in her hands.

Xsus nodded, making his leaf ears flop around. "Yes, madam!"

He stumbled past Vanilla and she chuckled quietly to herself as Xsus moved towards the other side of the kitchen where Ria was standing. She was a tall, light pink colored cat with faint mixes of yellow in her fur. She glanced down at Xsus with kind blue eyes as he stumbled next to her and struggled lifting the cookie sheet to the cat. She bent down and picked up the tray for him and slid it into the oven, brushing aside some of the shoulder length pink strands of fur that acted as hair for her. The blue circle in the center of her forehead seemed to glow as she closed the oven and looked at Xsus.

"Careful now, Xsus, we don't want to drop anything on the ground and make a bigger mess for Vanilla to clean." She said to him seriously, her blue eyes glowing. She brushed invisible dust off her tan colored pants and straightened out her white shirt before walking out of the room towards the sound of laughter coming from the living room.

Xsus watched her go and wiped his hands off before turning around. He marched towards Vanilla to inform her he was done when he suddenly slipped on a splotch of water on the ground, flipped backwards, and landed on the ground with a crash and a yelp.

Vanilla laughed as Xsus stared at the ceiling like he couldn't believe this had just happened to him.

Cream the rabbit suddenly ran into the room from the living room with her trusty Chao, Cheese floating alongside her. "What happened?!" She demanded. "Is everyone okay? Xsus!"

Xsus felt his muzzle turn red in embarrassment. "I-I'm sorry! I don't know what happened! I was just walking and then I was on the ground!"

Cream ran up to Xsus and held a hand out to him with a smile. "Well all that matters is that you're okay right?"

Xsus grinned and took Cream's hand and she helped him stand to his feet. Then, Xsus' foot hit the puddle of water and he yelped again and grabbed Cream's arm, who also let out a yelp as he grabbed onto her. The two did an awkward ice skating moment while trying to stand, and then fell to the ground again.

They looked at each other as Cheese floated around their heads worriedly then laughed while Vanilla bent down and helped both of them stand.

Xsus looked at Vanilla as soon as the two were on their feet. "Mrs. Vanilla? How much longer until the parade starts?"

Vanilla sighed to herself. _Kids will be kids,_ she thought to herself with a faint smile. She was baking cookies for the parade out by Station Square earlier that day and Team Staryia (which contained the Dimension Jumpers: Xsus, Ria, Jason, Chase, and Xerius), Team Chaotix, and Maria Robotnik had come over to help her out. However, Maria had left earlier that day to be with her good friend Chaos the hedgehog, a brother to Katherine and Shadow.

All that the groups were doing now was waiting for the rest of the cookies to cook and cool so they could head to the parade. "Don't worry deary, everything will be alright! We'll get there in time, you'll see."

"Yeah, Xsus," Cream added. "And when we get there I can show you what a parade float looks like!"

"Is it like a root beer float?!" Xsus asked excitedly, his eyes lighting up.

"No, it's more like… how would you explain it mama?" Cream turned her brown eyes up to Vanilla.

"You'll have to see for yourself, Xsus." Vanilla said to him softly. She suddenly looked up and blinked in surprise when she saw the tall boy known as Xerius walk into the room. Vanilla was always edgy around Xerius because she had never heard him speak before although everyone else insisted he could, she had never heard his voice yet.

Xerius dipped his head politely to Vanilla. He was a tall cat with light brown fur and dark brown spots splattered on his body like spray paint. His dark brown eyes held a look of thoughtfulness in them as he looked at Vanilla. He wore a white shirt with a black oval spot in the middle of it along with dark colored shorts, and black boots. He flicked his long tail as he turned his attention to Xsus.

Xsus cocked his head, trying to read Xerius' face. "The others… they…" Suddenly, Xsus scowled. "They want more drinks? Aw! Why?"

Xerius crossed is arms, saying nothing as usual.

Xsus pouted, flatting his ears and turning towards a nearby cupboard, opening up and revealing the array of beautiful glass cups. "Alright, tell them I'm coming!"

Xerius nodded and left the room as Cream jumped forward and helped Xsus fill up the cups with different drinks. After that, Xsus led the way, somehow balancing three cups in his hands and one on his head while Cream carried only three.

When he walked into the living room where the others were, sitting on comfortable leather couches, Xsus stumbled on the rug and fell to the ground, spilling the drinks onto the ground and setting the whole room into laughter as everyone in the room stood up to help the small cat out as Cream put the drinks on the table.

"You okay, Xsus? That was quite a fall!" Vector the crocodile said while trying to keep a straight face.

Xsus' muzzle turned red again. "I'm okay, sorry about that!"

"It's fine, it's fine," Jason said to him and Xsus looked over into the weird looking cat's hazel eyes for a moment as Jason stood, towering over Xsus since he was still on the ground and straightened out his grey shirt with a red X in the center of it. "I'll go talk to Vanilla to get some paper towels, you guys… try to clean this up until I get back."

Everyone nodded and Jason walked out of the room. Jason did look somewhat cat-like like most Dimension Jumpers did but his ears stretched a good foot above his head and then split off into five points, making them look a bit like antlers. His long, thick tail, that looked a bit too glossy to be a cat's tail, flicked as he looked back one more time to see if everyone was working well together before walking out of the room, the sound of his black boots echoing in the air.

Chase laughed as soon as he was gone and shook his head as he looked at Xsus. "Xsus, the day you grow up will be a sad, sad day."

Xsus glanced at the cat with long ears like Jason's but folded back at the ends of them like some dog's ears. He was a light grey colored cat with black hands, feet, the tips of his ears, and tail and dark blue eyes. He shook his head slowly as Xsus lifted his head into the air boldly. "Ha! I'll never grow up!"

-XXXXXXXX-

"Xsus, y-you grew up!" Katherine said in disbelief as she looked at the tall golden cat before her.

Xsus rubbed the back of his head and looked away. "Look, it's none of your business. I'm not supposed to be here right now anyways."

Katherine blinked, surprised by Xsus' words.

"Explain yourself," Shadow growled as he took a step forward.

Xsus crossed his arms and gave Shadow a dead serious look. "I don't have to do anything, Shadow. I'm only here to save the future. I should be disappearing at any moment now…"

"You're from the future?!" Amy cried, pointing at Xsus in shock.

Sonic blinked and shook his head slowly. "I can't believe it… from the future? What's it like out in the future?"

Xsus shook his head. "I can't tell you. That might change the future too."

Shadow took a step forward angrily. "If you don't explain yourself soon then I am going to personally give you a world of misery."

"Threats don't work anymore on me Shadow, punch me. I _dare_ you." Xsus said coldly.

Everyone else seemed speechless for a moment. Could this really be Xsus? The cute boy who could make anyone smile, was this him? It seemed like he was hanging out with Xerius for way too long in the future.

Shadow's eyes narrowed and he threw a fist at Xsus but the boy took a quick step back, dodging the blow before delivering his own punch in Shadow's stomach.

The Ultimate Life Form coughed as Xsus' fist smashed into his stomach and he glared at Xsus with cold red eyes before punching Xsus in the jaw and watching the cat fly backwards and into a wall. Xsus jumped to his feet and both hedgehog and cat turned to each other, fists raised and eyes blazing angrily.

"Hey! Hey! Calm down you guys!" Sonic jumped forward in between the two and looked from Shadow to Xsus and then back to Shadow. "Fighting isn't the option here. Maybe we can help you out Xsus, what happened in the future? Why are you in the past?"

Xsus crossed his arms again with a glare and turned his attention onto the ground as Katherine took a step forward. "Xsus…"

Xsus' ears twitched and he looked at her with a frown.

"Look," Katherine lifted her hands and gave the cat a serious look. "Even if you change the future, if it's a terrible one that is, couldn't it be changed for the better if you tell us what happened?"

Xsus' frown grew deeper and he finally took a deep breath. Everyone seemed to lean forward as he opened his mouth and turned his attention towards everyone. "Alright, well… how am I going to explain this…? Well… I'm from a future where almost everyone in this room is dead."

**Sorry that was a bit short…**

**Zap "It wasn't my fault!"**

**Windy "Yes it was."**

**Me "Enough you two!"**

**Zap "But I'm telling you…!"**

**Me *pulls out sword and jumps out of chair* "Come here, both of you!"**

**Zap *curses and runs out of the room with Windy***

**Me "Humph, anyways, you people know the drill review and if you don't then… *sighs* maybe Zap will blow up your internet connection too... anyways, light be with you and I'll see you when the internet shows its face again."**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi people! Welcome to the next chapter to **_**This is War**_**! So, is BlackSandHeart's internet back up so you can get daily posts again…?! No, it's not. But, *waves a hand* let's not dwell on that for now. What matters is that I'm on, right? Thanks goes to my entire Ohana for reviewing, thank you guys so much *smiles*  
Note for those who didn't review: sorry the 'thanks for reviewing' is so long. You won't believe how boring life can be without an internet and how much I owe to the ones who review, but just have patience with me and scroll down to the story and please do leave a review!**

**Chaos= Lol, my parents don't have a clue about this either, I did say something about the Ohana and just got a bunch of weird looks and I said: "It's... uh… nothing... never mind." but ANYWAYS, *laughs* I get whatcha mean! Agree on that one too, we could be a family in some long distance crazily awesome way.  
Katherine "YES! I won!" *hugs Chaos* "Can you believe it, bro?"  
Silver *grins* "Thank you, Chaos!"  
Shadow *crosses arms and scowls* "Humph, I do have a protective streak over anyone that comes near either of you, you know."  
Katherine "I'm older than both of you, Shadow..."  
Knuckles "Oh yeah! I'm beating you all!"  
Flame glares "Don't even PUT Nazo in here, SandHeart!"  
Me "Okay, okay! Sheesh…"  
Shadow "Humph..."  
Zap "ZIP?! What is with these nicknames you've inspired, Blackie?"  
Me "What are you doing here?! Get out! I'm still mad at you! Hang on, Chaos..." *pulls out sword and chases Zap out of the room, comes back after a minute and sighs angrily* "Some people...!"  
And no, I haven't played Sonic colors, but I want to get it for my birthday, which is coming up soon *grins* ...in the next couple of months *sighs* but anyways, yes, Zap was my first OC (*scowls*) with Windy and FD, and then Katherine and Sierra came around when I was fourteen, Team Staryia last year along with Sorro, and Flame being the most recent. There you go, I just gave you a history lesson my OCs' creations *laughs* and you probably didn't need to know any of it. But for me, the hardest part of the OC would be… huh… probably coming up with one instantly. I always have a hard time with the 'quick! Make an OC right here and now!' because all my OCs have a bit of my personality put into them, I can't just make a character out of thin air (although as I think about this, out of all my OCs Katherine and Flame have the majority of my personality. Katherine's my good side, Flame's my bad side but both sometimes flip flop on being good or bad—random fact again haha)!  
Thanks for the disclaimer recommendation! I actually used it because I couldn't think of anything else to use.  
And yes Chaos, you died in the future saving Maria. But if it makes you feel better Katherine's dead too and so is Maria. *frowns* hang on, I doubt that made you feel any better… sorry *clear throat* anyways, moving on. And I loved all those quotes! They were awesome!  
Xerius **_**"You take your shades off to me yet you still mock me?"**_** *lifts fists angrily*  
Xsus *pokes you back with a grin*  
Sorro *frowns and tries to fix the fur on the top of his head while laughing* "Hey...!"  
*watches you randomly smash stuff and turns to Chaos* is he always like this?  
Anyways, glad you saw that line in the story! It made me laugh while I wrote it down in the side notes that I use to write the stories. So *snickers* you skipped Shadow's Gathering? Well, as long as you came back and were mind blown haha (I try to do that to readers)...  
Shadow "Very funny, Chaos. I know that a review button is the right thing to press."  
Katherine *laughing silently*  
…and yeah I get what you mean, I suppose I owe everyone who reviews one here. Without you guys... I'd be nothing. *accepts high five with a laugh*  
Oh! And Chaos pops up in this chapter...  
Zap *from far off and speaks dryly* "You're hilarious Chaos!"  
Me "Do NOT make me hunt you down, Zappy boy!"  
Katherine *laughs* "It's all good Chaos, we all know he's talking about Zigzag!"**

**UFO= Lol you and me both, friend, seems like both of our internets have been recently sucking miserably. So, you went to a party and went Xsus on everyone *applauds while laughing* I wish I saw that! And that is true, good and evil just don't practically exist in the future (we're not counting rebels vs. Aero and people yet) Limbless dummies huh? That sounds like that'd be a sight to see. *laughs* well for me they'd just be headless.  
But, you have a point there. No one can 'just beat Shadow' but then again no one can 'just beat a future Xsus' either... *thoughtful look* wonder how that fight would've played out.  
Hmm... looks like I'll have to play this game and read that story! Thanks for both of them... I'll check that story out... *sighs and lowers head onto a table* ...when my internet shows its face again because these blasted school computers won't let me read stories or look at the reviews (I borrowed my mom's phone to see the reviews yesterday).  
Anyways, dang! You have a big family! The most I have is when my step-sibs and my sisters and I are together, making it a total of eight (including the parents).  
Zap *sighs* "I can now say that all of you are out for me." *teleports away*  
Me "Get him!"**

**Retto= You still think this one's the darkest...? Hmm... Well I can see where you're coming from; a future where everyone dead or lost in some way is quite dark. Well, *laughs* if you remember that other question ask away! But, no, I've always wanted to play that game though but I haven't been able to talk any family or friends into playing it with me yet (they say it'd be a pointless game). A cell tower huh? *laughs* well, I'll make sure to keep Zap away from that state! If he does though, go ahead and cut him.  
Zap "Oh you're such a nice author, letting others go after me."  
Me *lifts a hand and looks away* "No! Don't talk to me. I'm still mad at you."**

**Raeweis= Lol! Yes! Xsus got Shadow bit time! And yes, I left you all on a cliffhanger I hope this one is (somewhat) better and that my internet comes back up soon. And yes *also glares at Zap* I hope it comes back up soon too. Oh, I haven't left a review on any of your stories yet due to the fact that these little school computers won't let me read or look at reviews on stories… just thought I'd let you know. But I do want to read them very, **_**very**_** badly!**

**Rya= *applauds as you come back* you just got FD, for that I am quite impressed!  
Zap *looks at the bat* "Maybe I can guard myself against all you reviewers going after me... and the author."  
ANYWAYS, *glares at Zap then smiles at you* thanks! I'm so glad you like all the couples! I've always tried to make them work together, I've never liked the couples where readers are always like: 'how did THAT happen...?'  
Xerius *shrugs*  
Sorro *grins* "I got a high-five from Rya!"  
Agree with you there, it was quite intimidating with Xsus knowing that Shadow couldn't do much to him... which is just... scary. And the future is quite terrible...  
Hydro *nods* "Thanks."  
No predictions still? Well maybe this chapter will give you one...!**

**Storm= Zap "Look! It wasn't my fault...!"  
Me *pulls out sword* "Yes it was."  
Zap *lifts the bat Rya gave him* "Hey...! Put down the sword...!"  
Me *lowers sword and sits back down glaring and then looks to you while letting out an angry sigh* "Anyways, yes I hope it goes back up soon too because this is getting ridiculous (as you well know haha). And yeah, the way how future Xsus said it so seriously too was quite funny."**

**Amicus= Nope! I'm not dead yet! (And neither is your friend *laughs then frowns*) I'm not going to get you with the sword, Amicus. The only one I'm going after today would be Zap over there.  
Zap *sighs* "I think officially everyone is out for me."  
But anyways, glad you liked how I described Ria! I wanted to put her in a place that didn't seem so dark like it is in the future or on the ARK at the moment, it obviously worked well! And yes. That's exactly why we went to Neverland and that nobody listens to the fortune tellers *shakes head slowly* But yeah, I hope I get the internet back soon too! But glad to see that you're still liking the story!**

**Strife= Lol, yes, yes he did. And thanks for the idea of uploading from school. That's exactly how I'm posting this up now (but they blocked the reviews so the process of getting this up took a few days... *sighs*) And yes, this chapter is thankfully longer for you readers.**

**Chaos and Strife= *shakes head while trying not to laugh* I am not going to step in between you two, Nazo and Chaos.**

**DISCLAIMER= (Given to you by Chaosthehedgehog… this should be interesting. Everyone please let me know if you want to be given a truth or a dare, anyways, here we go *laughs weakly* I'm done for…) Zap *shuffles papers as he sits next to Windy* "Hello folks and welcome to truth or dare! Today's contestants are the members of FanFiction's one and only Ohana: Strife the Dark 152, BlackSandHeart, Chaosthehedgehog, Con Amicus, Maraya Prower, Retto the Otter, UnknownFollower, BlackStormNomad, and raeweis!"  
Windy *smirks* "I say we should start this **_**rousing**_** game with the author who started this."  
Blackie *puts head in her hands* "Oh by the darkness…!"  
Windy "Ah don't worry, SandHeart, this will be fun!"  
Strife *glances at Blackie* "You're doomed."  
Blackie *glares* "Thanks for the support!"  
Windy "Truth or dare, Blackie?"  
Blackie "Uh… truth?"  
Zap "Do not be boring! PICK A DARE!"  
Blackie *blinks* "Fine! Fine! Good heavens! Dare!"  
Retto "Talk about demanding, Zap."  
Zap *pulls out a paper while ignoring Retto* "Humph, very well, a dare… BlackSandHeart, we dare you to eat a sandwich with…"  
Rya "Oh no, here it comes…!"  
Zap "Cookies, Mayo, Mustard…"  
Amicus *sticks tongue out* "Oh now you've just ruined the meaning of cookies!"  
Storm *shudders* "I'm with you on that one Amicus, bleh!"  
Zap "…ham, cheese…"  
Chaos "At least it has some normal sandwich ingredients…"  
Zap "…whip cream, ketchup, sour cream, pasta…"  
Blackie "Are you done, Zappy boy?! You're ruining like… all my favorite foods here!"  
Zap *lifts a hand* "Not done, and the final two: ice cream and chocolate syrup!"  
Authors *all look disgusted* Raeweis "That's just wrong for those things to be put into a sandwich."  
Windy *smiles darkly* "Even better, Blackie, we got the sandwich ready for you already!" *pulls out a sloppy mess of the Light Givers knows what on a plate* "Also, you have to say the disclaimer before you eat it."  
Blackie *shakes head slowly* "I am going to die today…"  
UFO "Uh… you can do it Blackie! Just don't think about how it tastes."  
Windy "And no one offer for her to drop out of it. If she does then I get to use my sword… or we can call FD into the room so he can intimidate all of you. And no Rya, you can't hit him if we bring him in."  
Rya *pouts*  
Blackie *sighs* "Give me the sandwich." *Windy hands her the plate and Blackie shudders* "Okay, Sonic and Company belong to SEGA, I own the Dimension Jumpers, Storm owns Aero, Kelly, and Robyn, Chaos owns Chaos, and Strife owns some ideas in the story… do I have to eat this?!" *Zap and Windy nod* "Fine… it was nice knowing all of you…" *picks up the gooey sandwich and takes a cautious bite*  
Windy *turns to Zap* "So, who owns us OCs if she dies?"**

Chapter Six=

TIME= 12 HOURS 58 MINUTES

AREA= TAILS' WORKSHOP

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

"So…" Katherine said to future Xsus as Cosmo walked in, carefully balancing drinks on a small platter. She handed one to Tails with a smile before distributing the rest of the drinks to the rest of the group. She tried handing Xsus a root beer float… who denied it. Katherine blinked in surprise and shook her head as everyone else in the room had their jaws dropped in shock. "Uh… anyways… so you're from a future with all of us dead?"

Xsus crossed his arms and mentally wondered to himself how he had gotten here so fast. Sonic had insisted for him to come to Tails' workshop and Shadow Chaos Controlled the entire group to Tails' workshop. Now here he was getting offered root beer floats, and everyone was giving him weird looks for denying it. "I don't eat sugar anymore." He said flatly to all of them, resulting in everyone anime style falling over except Katherine and Cosmo.

Xsus turned his attention to Katherine, getting back on topic, "Where I'm from… everyone's dead from the original group except Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Tails, and Jason. I came into the past thanks to a machine Tails built with the help of Father Darkness…"

Katherine gagged on the water she was drinking and coughed while the others turned to her in surprise. Katherine wiped the water off her mouth and continued coughing while Sonic looked at Xsus in confusion. "Father Darkness…? Who's he?"

Xsus scowled at Katherine. "I can't believe you haven't said anything about the leader of the Followers of Darkness. Anyways, in this current time, he leads the Followers of Darkness and is ruthless. In the future, he's still as dark as ever and is the leader of us rebels, who are trying to stay alive in the war…"

"A war… who are you fighting?" Cosmo asked as she took a seat next to Tails.

Xsus shook his head sadly, secretly wishing to disappear right now. "Well… the people we're fighting… they're the remains of the experiments on the ARK. When Shadow was about to press the button, he was going to release all ARK experiments. When he did they were going to start to kill all of us, like… one of them, named Tiane. Tiane is a bat like Rouge and she managed to…" Xsus suddenly lowered his voice as if he was worried the world would speak against him, "She managed to kill Sierra single handedly."

A shocked moment of silence settled down on the group.

"The leader of all the experiments is a project known as Aero," Xsus continued nervously. "He runs the show and his right hand… machine I guess… is Project Night."

"I thought Xerius killed him during the Day of the Dead!" Rouge said in disbelief and Xsus turned his attention to the bat. All remembered the deranged ARK project that everyone thought was destroyed during the Day of the Dead.

"Well… yes and no, Xerius killed him yes, but when Shadow pressed the button, the button just reactivated all the experiments dead or alive, and the Day of the Dead had already brought them all back to life to begin with." Xsus explained.

"Good heavens," Katherine muttered, her coughing fit now over. She scowled into her glass of water. "Seems like the Day of the Dead just keeps coming back to bite at us."

Xsus nodded. "It gets worse, when they were first released their first victim was Omega. After that, they gained more in number and slowly took over this world while the rest of us fought for our lives, then they managed to make it into my… our… home dimension. They then started taking over that place too. Within five months, G.U.N. was no more and in four years, they had control over both dimensions."

"Just like that crazy old bird said…!" Tails suddenly gasped the others became quiet as they slowly started fitting the pieces of what the old bird had said together, all of it was making sense now. The old bird's words seemed to suddenly echo in all of their heads except Xsus' for a moment: _"Hurry, hurry to the ARK my friends and you will see that the word is near its end! A button to press? Is that the test? The future tries to stop it to no prevail!"_

"How far in the future are you from?" Knuckles asked worriedly after a long moment of silence.

"Seven years…" Xsus muttered, crossing his arms. "Everyone gave up fighting by year six except a few of us like Kelly, Clive, Robyn, and a few others but everyone in this room that still exists, except me, gave up fighting."

Shadow growled angrily, "Why did I give up fighting?! There had to have been a good reason on why I gave up fighting."

Xsus lifted up his hand, showing his five fingers. "See my fingers? By the time these five years past by, your entire family and team is dead."

"Family…?!" Katherine coughed. "Who killed me?"

"Aero," Xsus spat. "Aero was the one that took out most of us elite fighters. He happened to also take out Maria, Chaos, and Amy too."

"What about me?" Rouge asked, putting a hand on her hip.

Xsus shook his head and looked away, his eyes tearing up for a moment. "The one that killed you… I don't want to say his name _ever_ again."

Everyone looked at each other with a frown and Rouge sighed angrily, lifting her hands up. "Look, sorry Xsus, but how can we know we can trust you? You might be some wanna be golden boy on the side of the street for all we know."

Xsus sighed and then reached a hand by his side and pulled out a once invisible sword. He then tossed it into Rouge's surprised hands after a moment of looking at it. Rouge let out a yelp as the sword started glowing a white color and she dropped it. The sword made a clanging sound as it crashed onto the ground and Katherine paled when she saw the sword. "Is that…?"

Xsus nodded. "This is your sword, Katherine."

Katherine reached by her side and pulled out her sword, revealing to everyone that both swords looked like identical copies. Katherine glanced over at Xsus in surprise as she put away her sword again. "How come you have it and not Shadow from the future? Or… Silver…?"

"Silver's dead too," Xsus said flatly and he looked at the sword as it laid, glowing on the ground. "But I got this the day you died. You were bleeding out and there was nothing I could do…" Xsus trailed off and his ears flattened as he looked at the ground.

Everyone said nothing and Xsus took a deep breath and continued after a pause, surprising the others that he wasn't breaking up into tears. "You gave me the sword and told me to take care of it before dying right then and there. Later, I tried giving it to Shadow but he refused to take it, saying he didn't want the past to continue haunting him."

There was another moment of silence until Cosmo spoke up. "You spoke of someone named Clive… who exactly is this person?"

"Clive…" Xsus shook his head. "I don't know if he made it to the past with me or not. He has the ability to time travel into the future but not into the past. Silver found him before he was killed in my time period."

"Speaking of which," Shadow's eyes narrowed. "If this is the future, why hasn't Blaze or Silver come into our time warning us about some future death trap?"

Xsus put his hands in his pockets and shrugged as he leaned back against the nearby wall. "I asked FD the same thing. He told me that some events caused by certain things aren't always noticed in the future. Events caused in the past are sometimes slow to catch up to the future, therefore Silver and Blaze don't know about this yet. But, it's better that you've been warned now instead of you all slowly dying. I guess that also explains why I haven't disappeared yet."

Xsus closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he leaned against the wall. "So, I hope I disappear soon so the future can be at peace again."

"What about the Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic asked. "Couldn't you have used them to bring everyone back to life?"

Xsus laughed dryly. "That would've made things so much easier. Aero went straight to Angel Island as soon as Omega was finished, killed Tikal, Shade, and Chaos the water element, and then destroyed the Master Emerald, making the Chaos Emeralds useless for all of us to use."

"You can't just destroy the Master Emerald though…!" Knuckles argued. "It takes more energy than all seven Chaos Emeralds together to do that!"

Xsus scowled. "If I knew how he did it then I'd tell you. What FD thinks that happened is that he used the Chaos Emeralds and some of the ARK experiments' energy to take the Master Emerald out."

There was a long moment of silence as everyone absorbed the new information. Suddenly, Omega turned towards the group on Tails' couch or sitting on the ground with all of them were facing Xsus. Everyone then turned their attention to the robot as he made a beeping sound. "TIME IS 13:03. WE MUST LEAVE SOON IF WE EXPECT TO MAKE IT TO THE PARADE BEFORE IT ENDS."

"Of course!" Sonic sat up with a jolt. "We're going to be late! The parade starts in minutes and we can't just Chaos Control there! G.U.N. will flip out if we use Chaos Control. Like last time…"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "This is not the time for flashbacks, Faker."

Katherine turned to the silent Xsus. "Come on, you're coming with us, Xsus."

Xsus shook his head and spread his hands out. "Look, calling me Xsus might not be a good idea. Just call me Hydro, it's my call name, call me Hydro so you don't get me and the Xsus of this time mixed up."

"Hydro huh?" Rouge put a hand on her hip and laughed quietly to herself. "Well it does work with you being a hydrokenisis."

Xsus, or Hydro, rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed that Rouge pointed out his special ability. "Yeah, I know, we should hurry though. In the future, Aero's first attack against the world was at the parade. I should know because I'm in… or I _was_ in the parade with a few others."

"Alright Xsus… I mean… Hydro, come on! I'm meeting someone at the parade anyways so let's go!" Sonic stood and ran to the front door. He threw open the door and was about to run out when Amy grabbed his arm.

"Who are you meeting at the parade Sonic? Can't you take me with you?" She asked, her green eyes growing big.

Sonic's face turned red as Amy's face became annoyed. "It's another girl isn't it?"

"N-no! Of course not!"

"Humph!" Amy let go of Sonic's arm and crossed her own. "I knew it!"

"Amy…!" Sonic said in disbelief. "Look, we can talk about this later." With that, the blue blur shot out the door and towards the city at full speed as Hydro laughed quietly to himself while picking up the future Katherine's sword that Rouge had dropped.

Katherine glanced at Hydro. "What are you laughing at?"

Hydro shrugged and suddenly gained a straight face as he put the sword away, "Nothing out of the ordinary."

"Come on guys, I think the Tornado can take us all there…" Tails said as he led everyone towards the garage of his workshop to where the X-Tornado was being kept safe. After a moment, he was followed by the others, except Shadow and Katherine.

Both siblings looked at each other and shrugged. "You be careful, Shadow." Katherine waved a hand as she started walking after the others towards the X-Tornado. "I can't run as fast as you so you're going to have to keep an eye out for yourself."

Shadow gave her an annoyed look, "I'll be fine."

Katherine rolled her eyes and walked off as Shadow opened the front door to the workshop and ran off after Sonic, after closing the door.

-XXXXXXXX-

TIME= 13 HOURS 09 MINUTES

AREA= STATION SQUARE

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

"Mama, where's Sonic? He promised he would be here!" Cream the rabbit said nervously as she and the rest of the group with her worked together to put up a tent. Ria swatted Xsus on the side of the head as the ten-year-old boy tried to take a cookie from the table in the middle of the room and Xsus managed to avoid to blow last minute by ducking and scrambling away, laughing.

"I'm sure he'll be here soon," Vanilla reassured her daughter. She glanced over at Xerius as he and Chase worked together to keep the tent standing. She kept a cautious eye on the silent warrior as he used his flying abilities to float off the stool and tie a part of the rope onto the metal beam that was dug deep into the earth.

Espio hopped down from a stool he was on, finishing up part of the job in putting up the tent and moved up to Ria. "Here, let me help you." He said flatly and he helped Ria place up the rest of the tables and placed napkins with cooked cookies on top of them.

Chase scowled back at Espio and turned his attention back to tying knots around the metal beam. "Humph, trying to take Ria I see? I'll get him for that later," He muttered to himself then he glanced at Xerius. "You'll help me out won't you?"

Xerius raised an eyebrow, stopping for a moment to give Chase his famous _really_? Look.

Chase sighed. "I know, I know, but still! He's obviously trying to impress her…"

Xerius decided to shut Chase up by smacking him on the side of his head. He gave Chase another hard look as the boy sighed, rubbing his head angrily, "Ow! Alright fine, but still! I have every right to be suspicious!"

Jason walked by snickering and was holding a bucket of water. "There is almost no way you're going to win my sister's heart Chase!" He said to Chase as Chase scowled, remembering that Jason was Ria's twin brother.

"Thanks for the support, Jason!" Chase scowled in Jason's direction as the boy left the tent.

"You're welcome!" Jason replied as soon as he was outside.

Vanilla wagged a finger at them. "Now boys, fighting won't solve anything! We have to work together to put this tent up!"

"Yes Vanilla," Chase flattened his ears and then helped Xerius tie the rest of the knots.

Xsus sneaked up behind the counter as Ria and Espio worked together, both not paying attention to him. The boy laughed quietly to himself and stole a few cookies from the top of the counter and turned around towards Charmy Bee as he crawled up next to him. The bee laughed quietly, "They'll be surprised when they find that a few of their cookies are missing, huh Xsus?" The bee asked.

Xsus grinned. "Of course!" He licked his lips as he looked at the cookies. "I can't wait to try one…!"

"Xsus!" A voice cried out and Xsus flattened his ears as he glanced over at Cream who had her hands on her hips.

"Uh… yes Cream?" Xsus asked.

"You can't eat those! We're saving them for the customers!" Cream scolded as she took the cookies out of their hands and placed them back on the counter.

Xsus pouted. "Aw! Why not?"

Cream wagged a finger at Xsus. "Because mama said so! And Ria doesn't want you and Charmy to get on a sugar high until after the parade!"

"Until after the parade?!" Charmy said in disbelief. "But that'll take forever!"

"Wait, after the parade? So when the parade's over… does that mean we can have one then…?" Xsus grinned.

Cream frowned and suddenly became thoughtful while gaining a confused look on her face. "Uh… I actually… don't know. I guess so! I don't see why not."

Charmy and Xsus grinned and gave each other a high five while Cream laughed at them.

Suddenly, from the sky above, a Chao dropped down and landed on Xsus' head. Xsus blinked and looked at the dark colored Chao that landed on his head as Cheese floated down on Cream's head. Xsus grinned and took the Chao known as Nightshade off his head. "Nighshade!" He hugged the Chao and jumped to his feet, watching Chaos the hedgehog and Maria Robotnik walk into the tent.

Chaos grinned when he saw Xsus. "Hey! Sugar Rush Kid!"

"Water Boy!" Xsus jumped up and down happily, causing Nightshade to fall off his head.

"Chao!" Nighshade scolded Xsus as she floated over to Chaos' shoulder and sat down on it, giving Xsus an annoyed look.

Maria laughed as she stood next to Chaos. After a trip to the Light Giver's territory in the other dimension, she was transformed into a golden hedgehog and she smiled kindly at Chaos before looking at Xsus with her blue eyes. "Well, we're here. Looks like you guys are doing well setting up and the parade's supposed to start any minute now."

Suddenly, a blast of wind from the entrance of the tent and everyone looked at the entrance to see that Sonic had ran in. He grinned at the group. "Hey guys! Have I missed anything?"

"Sonic!" Xsus waved excitedly and Sonic turned to Xsus in surprise.

"Xsus…?"

Xsus frowned, flattening his ears. "I didn't eat any of the cookies, Mr. Sonic."

Sonic laughed and walked up to Xsus, rubbing the top of his head. "Good to see you Xsus," He said to the boy but there was obviously something the blue hedgehog was hiding. Xsus flattened one of his ears and perked up the other one.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Sonic shook his head. "I'll be back and buy a cookie from you guys later. I promised I'd watch the parade with someone. See you all later!" With that, he ran out of the room without looking back once.

"That was weird," Maria said with a frown. "What was that all about?"

Chaos shrugged. "Maybe he was thinking about the person he was watching the parade with."

Jason suddenly walked in from outside and jerked a finger out towards the entrance to the tent. "The parade's started. It's time we opened up shop."

Vector nodded and seemed to teleport over to the other side of the counter. "Don't worry about it Jason! I've run plenty of business' in my day and I always know when it's the best time to open up shop!"

Chase did a classic anime tear drop as he stood up next to Jason. "Like that one time when you tried to run a fishing business…"

"Hang on! That time doesn't count!" Vector said, waving his hands at them frantically.

Charmy laughed suddenly. "I remember that! That was hilarious! Vector tried going fishing and his boat got caught in a storm…!"

"Enough already!" Vector waved a hand at Charmy as the bee flew out of the way of Vector's wrath, laughing to himself as Xsus glanced over at Cream.

"The parade's started! Now you can show me what these floats look like!" He said to her excitedly.

Cream smiled and nodded. "Okay, follow me!" She led the way outside of the tent while the others laughed as Vector tried swatting Charmy with a broom Vanilla had brought along. Espio on the other hand was sighing while looking at the ground and Xerius stood next to him as silent as ever.

As soon as the flap to the tent closed behind him, Xsus' eyes widened. "Wow! They're so many people here!"

He was right, humans and Mobians were all around the two kids and towered high above their heads, blocking their view of the parade. Cream frowned at the sight before her and looked at Xsus as Cheese floated from her head onto her shoulder. "There are too many people! We might not be able to see the parade at all!"

Xsus looked thoughtful for a moment and then grinned. "I have an idea!" He said cheerfully. He held a hand out to Cream with a smile. "You trust me, right?"

Cream laughed and took the hand, "Of course!"

Xsus grinned and then started floating up into the air, carefully pulling Cream up after him. After a moment, he pulled Cream up into his arms and carried her towards the top of a nearby building where they stood and gawked at the floats the parade brought through.

"Today's the annual ceremony for G.U.N.'s creation!" Cream said to Xsus as he set her back down on the ground. "We have this parade every year and they have tanks come by at the end and shoot a grand finale of fireworks!"

"Fireworks?!" Xsus' ears perked up as he stared at the colorful array of floats on the streets. Confetti fell from the sky and got trapped in their fur as it fell but neither of them seemed to care as Xsus glanced at Cream with a grin. "That's amazing! But how do the fireworks go off at this time? It's not very late."

"Tails built the fireworks himself," Cream explained. "It was during a time after we beat Eggman and we found peace for awhile was when he built them. They have the ability to blow up during day or night and still can be seen!"

Xsus blinked in surprise as he looked at the vast crowd of Mobians and humans on the sidewalks but none were on the streets. "Why aren't there any people in the streets?" He asked after a pause, looking at Cream again.

Cream smiled. "Oh! That's so that the people don't get run over by the floats!"

Xsus paled. "You can get run over by a float?!"

Cream shrugged, "I've never seen it happen before but that's what mama told me! Oh, and that's a float." Cream pointed to one of the large square looking boxes covered with decorations that seemed to be moving on their own down the street.

Xsus nodded, finally understanding what Cream meant by a float before smiling again as he looked up to the sky, seeing the cannons launching the confetti into the blue sky with hardly a cloud in it. The warm sun shined down on him, reflecting his golden colored fur as he saw Mobians and humans hanging out of the windows of the buildings to watch the floats to pass. He turned his attention to the sidewalk crowd and his smile grew as he saw some familiar faces…

…but suddenly froze.

Because there was a face in the crowd that looked exactly like his. And the golden cat was staring back at him with serious ocean blue eyes.

**Windy *glances at nearby bathroom* "Well, while BlackSandHeart's away… and isn't dead…"**

**Blackie *crosses arms and scowls, looking like Xerius for a moment as she walks back out of the bathroom, looking sick* "Windy I will murder you if I survive this…!"**

**Zap "Did I forget to mention I placed some radiation into that sandwich? It was quite fun watching it turn green! Speaking of which it reminds me of the color of your face currently."**

**Blackie *glares* "Never mind, Windy, I will murder Zap first." *pulls out sword***

**Windy *smirks and turns to the bag full of names while BlackSandHeart chases Zap and is yelling insults at him* "So, who will be the next lucky victim? Stay tuned, and don't forget to review or else we'll make you eat the sandwich too!"**

**NOTES FOR ALL=  
BlackStormNomad= uploaded the next chapter of "A Difficult Reunion" (I recommend this story! It's amazing!)**

**Raeweis= uploaded the next chapter to "I Will Remain" and "Random Shorts" (Random Shorts make me laugh so hard… and I Will Remain has an awesome plot so go read them!)**

**My internet is still down… but I will try to post again soon for your people's sake! Light be with you all until we meet again and please leave a review! *Glances at the new title picture* Oh… that… that's future Xsus or Hydro, and yes, I drew that.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Me *dripping wet and laughing quietly to self* "Oh… the things people do to find some decent internet connection…"**

**Xsus *from another room* "BlackSandHeart!"**

**Me *perks up and looks over* "Xsus?! What's wrong?!"**

**Xsus "Come here! Hurry!"**

**Me *drops backpack and runs to the other room and stops before a sight of all OCs gathering before the computer and sighs* "People… I mean… Mobians… Dimension Jumpers! Whatever! You know the internet still isn't working. I checked it this morning…"**

**Flame *does the 'shhh' motion* "Don't speak."**

**Me *annoyed look* "And what was that for…?"**

**Zap *smirks while twirling wrench in his hands while sitting in the chair* "I fixed it."**

**Me "You… what?"**

**Zap "I fixed the internet."**

**Me "Move!" *pushes Zap out of the chair and looks at the computer screen to see Google on it* "No flipping way Zap! You're a genius!"**

**Zap *scowls* "Well this genius didn't like to be pushed on the floor…!"**

**Me *Uses Flame's 'shhh' motion* "Shush you, I officially have new respect for you. That should be enough..." *goes to FanFiction with a grin* "And it looks like my entire Ohana reviewed!"**

**Retto= Zap "I refuse to lose to a Sandslash…!"  
Windy *sighs* "I'll say it again. You'd fail epically."  
Zap "Thanks for the support, Windy."  
Windy *smirks and shows Zap a thumbs up* "No problem, Zappio."  
Me *laughing* "Well, yeah in a way it is, it's played with the entire deck and it's easy to know when you win when you have the most matches. Ah! And thanks for the disclaimer idea, I'll use it when I'm done with the Truth or Dare idea… which should take a few more chapters but *shrugs* you know. Huh… on one of your ****scalchops**** huh…? That'd be actually quite funny…"  
Windy "Seventy years…? Those are going to be **_**long**_** years."**

**Chaos= Good heavens, reminds me of a similar incident of my own… *scowls* …but… it didn't get that severe. Humph, as long as you showed him you can't be messed with and you can't just bully who you feel like. I hate bullies with a passion, they could die for all I could care *glares out a window* (…wow Flame moment there). But, anyways, all I have for you is this: don't do anything stupid.  
Zap "Little Rascals quote, none the less? Humph, you won't get much out of me from pleading."  
Me *gives him a look* "Plead. Now."  
Zap "Xsus style? Very well…" *gets on his knees and lifts hands up as if he's trying to pray* "Oh please, oh please, spare my highly, more important than yours, life."  
Me "You call that pleading?!"  
Zap "I said you couldn't get much out of me from pleading."  
Me *face palms* "Really?!" *looks at you* "See what I dealt with since I was ten?"  
Anyways, why am I not surprised that FD is the cause of Chaos losing his memory? *shakes head slowly* Good heavens… that guy just does everything secretly. *laughs* alright, thanks for letting me know Chaos and go ahead and blast him out of the sky.  
Zap "I currently hate you, SandHeart…!" *teleports away*  
And thanks for the truths and dares…! They'll be amazing to use…  
Windy *waves hands at Chaos* "Calm down! Calm down!"  
FD *blinks and then glares* "Grow… a little… taller…?!"  
And… *sighs sadly* nothing popped up on your quote. You might want to have to retry reposting that… I can't wait to read it!**

**Storm= *applauds* Yes! You survived until the last chapter popped up! And I'm enjoying your story and our friendship too, haha. Anyways, they told me that the interent would show its face on Tuesday but it came up today as you know so yeah… haha  
****Okay, so anyways, here's my plan: so, I planned on Kelly, Robyn, and Aero all being from the future characters (meaning they meet your characters (in your story) in a future, or this could all be another universe or something) And yes, they'll all be introduced to the others soon!  
Don't cry! The future will (hopefully) get changed for the better! And yes, Xsus and Kelly would do that with cookies.  
Katherine "I know! And I'm dead too!"**

**Amicus= Hmm... well it does sound familiar.  
Zap *throws his hands into the air "Thank you! Someone's not trying to kill me!"  
Sorry...! You got yourself screwed up with a truth or dare game! Xsus *pokes you with a grin* "You want to play the game too...?"  
Hahah, the rubber bands, braces I suppose? I got mine off in July! *coughs* but anyways, yeah! I wanted Hydro to be different from Xsus... but I think the story pushed the limits with no sugar.  
Oooo! What's your theroy on who killed Rouge? I want to know! I want to know!  
And yes... it seems like this is going to turn into a Hydro vs. Xsus or something like that soon...**

**Strife= *laughs* and that is going into the disclaimer. *then laughs harder as Nazo gets drop kicked out of the room*  
Anyways, glad to see you liked the chapter! I hope this one is just as good! I tried to make this one a bit more on the exciting side...**

**Raeweis= I finally read at least one of your stories! (in the pouring rain... *laughs*) Anyways, I agree with you there. Time Travel is different for everyone and it eventually gets really confusing... but something interesting will happen in this chapter... moving on, glad you liked it and I hope you like this one too!**

**UFO= You and me both, we're both doomed. And yeah, the experiments are pretty powerful, I just hope they don't become **_**too**_** powerful for the group...  
Windy *sighs* "Take the cookie..." *hands a cookie to you*  
Agreed! If we all ganged up on Zap...  
Zap "No. No. No. let's not imagine this. I fixed it that should be enough for you people."  
Me *waves a hand* "Alright, alright, *turns to you* We'd kick his butt for sure."  
And yes. Xsus saw Hydro. We're doomed. I'm sorry about you're internet! I hope it works well soon!**

**Rya= So... is this soon enough? :P Anyways, *laughs* nice cool shades.  
Zap "All of them **_**were**_** coming after me. So, practically everyone."  
Windy *grins at your idea* "Gotta new dare...!"  
Uh okay... no ideas about that *nods*  
Yesss! It always bugs me when people do that with their characters. It makes me wonder why it's necessary (unless the genre is romance... then I can sort of understand why).  
Sorro *face turns red as he fixes his fur* "N-no it's not...!"  
Agree with you there, I was just telling Amicus how I wanted him to be a bit different but since the story is sort of writing itself it's making Hydro/Future Xsus a very different person.  
Shadow "Excuse me...!"  
Katherine *falls over from laughing*  
FD "Good heavens. I think I'll just stand over here until you calm down." *walks to the other side of the room and onto the roof, out of reach*  
Windy "Coward."  
FD "I am doing this so I can live to see tomorrow, Windy. Watch your tongue."  
Windy *gives him Xerius' **_**really**_**? Look*  
Me "My friend gave Windy the idea and she gleefully wrote it down. I didn't expect her to use it against me in the dare...! But thanks for the support... I guess."  
Zap "And now... she doesn't like our dimension."  
Windy "Suppose that's a good thing, right? I agree with her though. That's why we call it the 'Day of the Dead' though. We don't celebrate. We just re-kill everything and hope nothing bites us about it later. And she's right about the other thing too. We **_**do**_** need to stop breaking things."  
Oooo... those are very nice predictions. Very nice indeed. But... *pouts* I can't tell you what happens...!  
Zap *pales as you lift up the bat and BlackSandHeart lifts her sword* "I will be... over here... with FD." *teleports next to FD, both look at each other, and then decide to have a five minute truce with each other***

**DISCLAIMER= (beginning of this brought to you by Strife the Dark... I just changed a few things...!)  
****S****trife "Well I guess I'll go next, dare me Windy!"  
Windy *shrugs* "Okay!" *puts hand in bag and takes out, then gets big eyes as she recognizes the handwriting* "Zap!"  
Zap *running for his life away from Blackie and Rya* "Yes!? What!?"  
Windy *lifts the paper for Zap to see* "Did you put this in?"  
Zap *smiles evilly as he snatches it out of her hand while running and hands it back on his way back* "Yep!"  
Windy *looks at the paper with a frown* "...okay then! Strife, you have to kiss... one of Blackie's O.C's?! What?!"  
Blackie and everyone else besides Strife "WHHAAAAAAAA?!"  
Strife "Okay then, anybody know where Flame is?"  
Flame *randomly appears as Blackie tackles Zap to the ground and Rya lifts her baseball bat*  
Chaos and UFO *grin while lifting up their weapons and advance on Zap*  
Zap "Oh by the Light Givers! Come on people! Can't a guy have a break?!"  
Flame *looks around in confusion* "...did I miss something important here...?"  
Windy "Truth or dare."  
Flame "Gah! Windy! I told you I do not want to get involved in any of these stupid little...!"  
Windy *waves a hand, shushing Flame* "You're not playing. Strife's going to kiss you."  
Flame *speechless*  
Retto "This is going to get interesting..."  
Windy "And before Strife can kiss Flame we got three more things to give out." *pulls out three more papers* UFO, put a rubber glove on your head and dance around like a chicken (brought to you by Chaos), and Rya, you have to stand on your head and sing the Disclaimer in Twinkle Twinkle little star as the theme (you brought that to yourself...)."  
Rya *sighs and gets on her head* "Sonic and company are owned by SEGA! BlackSandHeart owns all Dimension Jumpers. Chaos own the hedgehog known as Chaos, Storm owns a few characters too. Strife the Dark owns some of the ideas..." *pauses and tries to think of a way to finish the song* "Uh... now I'm done with the song right... here."  
Raeweis *laughing at Rya's song*  
Amicus "Good job, Rya!"  
Storm *laughs* "Good way to end the song!"  
Windy *nods as Zap manages to hands a red rubber glove to UFO* "...and for the rest of you, a truth that Chaos brought up for the heck of it. Do any of you have a boyfriend or girlfriend? Okay. I'm done. Kiss her Strife."**

Chapter Seven=

TIME= 13 HOURS 20 MINUTES

AREA= STATION SQUARE

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

_Hydro's POV_

_Aw crap he saw me…!_ I thought to myself as I watched the boy that looked years younger than myself pale. He turned to the rabbit next to him and I felt a pang hit me in the heart and I turned my head away, biting my lip as I took a step back, hiding myself in the back of the crowd.

"Hydro? What's wrong?" Katherine glanced back at me as she stopped looking for some way to get to the other side of the street and into the tent.

"N-nothing… I-I'm fine." I stuttered. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hands and removed the water that was slowly filling them up as the feeling in my heart was similar to lead.

Katherine frowned and shrugged. "O-okay I guess but…"

"XERIUS!" The boy on the building screeched as I stole another look in their direction again. I watched the golden cat, me, jump off the building and run for his dear life into the cookie store, half dragging the rabbit, or Cream, into the tent after him.

"Oh great…!" I cursed to myself quietly as Katherine scowled at me.

"What's the matter?"

"I saw myself."

"You… what?" Katherine frowned. Her words caused Rouge, Tails, Omega, Amy, Knuckles, and Cosmo to look back at me in surprise.

"My past self saw me," I explained and I watched as everyone's eyes lit up with recognition as they finally figured out what I meant. I looked at the tent and paled when I saw a familiar warrior that looked like an older version of Sorro walk out of the tent with past me, Xsus, standing next to him.

Xerius, that was his name, my older adopted brother who died because of a monster and because I wasn't strong enough to stop that monster's wrath. Xerius' brown eyes glanced in my direction and I spun onto Katherine and the others, hoping he didn't see me. "Look, if Sonic or Shadow asks where I went… tell them I went… away."

"You went away?" Katherine raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by my choice of words.

"You know what I mean!" I scowled as everyone looked at me in surprise. I glanced over by the tent and felt my blood run cold when I saw that Xerius wasn't there anymore. I spun around and started running down the street, pushing through the crowd. "Bye!" I yelled over my shoulder.

My ears twitched and I listened into the rest of their conversation as I kindly pushed my way through the crowd.

Katherine sighed. "Well… that's weird. We should probably go after him."

Rouge shook her head. "Well, he did seem edgy on the entire ride here. We should probably ask what's going on… Xerius!"

I stole a moment to glance back as Xerius appeared in the middle of the group and glanced in my direction. I ducked behind an alleyway and heard no more of their conversation. I held my breath and ducked into the shadows of the alleyway, using the training Xerius himself had given to me years ago.

I stayed there for a moment until a voice next to me brought chills up my spine.

_"So, may I ask what you're doing here and what games you are trying to play?" _A telepathic voice asked. I glanced slowly to my left and almost jumped out of my skin to see Xerius himself sitting next to me. He gave me a cold look with his brown eyes as I stared at him expressionlessly but said nothing.

_"Talk," _Xerius barked in his telepathic voice suddenly, and flicked his wrist, extracting his wolverine style claws from his wrists.

"You know, Xie," I said as I looked at the claws. "You always were quite intimidating with those claws of yours."

Xerius' face was priceless as I took the opportunity to jump to my feet and run out of the alleyway. I pushed my way out onto the street and slid to a stop, gaping as I saw a giant tank the size of— I swear it— an ocean liner rumbling down upon me. I jumped backwards as the tank rumbled to a stop as the people that were inside it stopped the giant beast.

"By the Light Givers…!" I cursed and then glanced around, seeing the crowd had gone silent to stop and stare. I could see my past self over by Katherine and was staring at me silently. The rest of the group was out there too, all of them except Silver, Blaze, Sonic, and Shadow. All were staring and all were silent.

Xerius suddenly appeared in front of the tank with his arms crossed and claws gone again. He looked anything _but_ happy. _"You have some explaining to do, boy."_

"I happen to be seventeen," I barked and the entire crowd muttered to each other. After a look around I turned my attention back to Xerius. "I'm not ten anymore."

Xerius raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. _"Prove it. You're nothing like the Xsus I know."_

A stunned moment of silence dropped down onto the crowd as I lifted a fist, glancing at a nearby puddle on the side of the road as Xerius extracted his claws again, his face ever so straight and serious.

_"Ready?" _He lifted his fists and claws up for me to see. Then, he charged at me.

Instincts from years of war took over my body as I jumped to the right, Xerius' claws missing my face by inches. I spun around and pushed a hand outward in Xerius' direction and the puddle on the ground shot up and shot its way at Xerius but the warrior merely jumped high into the air, dodging the attack.

I spun around as Xerius touched down behind me and I conjured the water to fly into my hand and willed it to freeze by clenching my fist around it, which it did after a moment, and I lifted up a katana made entirely out of ice.

We jumped at each other and in a flash of our blades we created sparks as we jumped into the air, slashing. My mind went into autopilot: slice, block, dodge, repeat, I did almost anything to stay alive but Xerius was just as good at battle as I was. He skillfully dodged my slices and lashed out with his claws just as quickly as I could swing.

Xerius finally got lucky, he shoved a punch into the side of my face and I crashed into the asphalt hard with a yelp. I felt anger suddenly course through me as I jumped to my feet and lifted a hand in Xerius' direction, not even looking. I could practically feel the water from everyone's water bottles break free, shoot skyward, and smash Xerius in the face, causing him to also crash onto the ground not too far away from me.

I glanced over at him as Xerius stood, dripping wet and his brown eyes seeming to glow with hidden rage. He was biting back an obvious snarl and I can't say I was doing any better.

"Take this!" I yelled and I concentrated on my energy once more, focusing it on the palm of my hand as a ball of light appeared in my hands. I jumped towards Xerius and shot the ball forward, transforming it into a beam that Xerius easily sidestepped as I blew up a barbeque someone was making.

Xerius jumped at me as I lifted my ice katana defensively when someone suddenly jumped in the middle of both of us, emitting a large blast that knocked myself and Xerius off our feet. We both slid to a stop far away from each other, and jumped to our feet once again. But we both stopped from charging at each other when we saw none other than my past self, Xsus, standing between us.

"I don't care what's going on…!" Xsus said, puffing up his chest while fighting back tears in his eyes. "But I want it to stop! And it's going to stop here and now!"

There was a moment of silence as I glanced at Xerius and watched as he sheathed his claws and I caused the katana to transform back into water, turning into a large puddle at my feet. Xsus looked at us in turn, turning from one to the other with a serious look on his face.

Suddenly, out of the blue, the crowd started cheering. All three of us froze and looked around in shock as it suddenly hit me. They thought it was part of the show… they didn't think any of this was for real. I would've laughed if I wasn't being so nervous about Xerius' death glare he was giving me.

Chase suddenly ran forward from the tent and I couldn't help but face palm when he saw him. Oh no… he was going to do something completely stupid yet entirely hilarious again…

Chase grinned at the crowd as he lifted a few cookies he brought with him into the air. "Yeah! You liked that?! Now who wants a cookie?!"

The crowd cheered even louder.

Katherine suddenly appeared next to me. "Alright, into the tent, quick while the crowd's distracted with Chase…"

I nodded and everyone on our team ran for the Vanilla's tent. I remembered working with the others to put this thing up seven years ago… I shook the thought away and ducked as Chase threw some spare cookies at the excited crowd.

**Another chapter done...!**

**UFO *looks at the rubber glove* "Do I have to wear this...?"**

**Zap "Yes you do."**

**UFO *stares at the glove as Strife takes a step towards Flame***

**Windy "So! The authors survived another round! But can they survive the next...? Now review. Or I'll give the sandwich to you." *dark grin***

**Xsus *runs into the room* "Hey Windy! That rhymed...!"  
**

**Windy *face palm*  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi people! Welcome to the next chapter of the story...! Thanks goes to my Ohana and a guest reviewer from the Return for reviewing! Also, this chapter is going to be epically awesome... just thought I'd warn you *laughs***

**Chaos= You really want to know the answer to the question? *face turns red and looks away* well, if you must know, I'm forever alone. Don't have a boyfriend.  
I LOVE that song! Here's another Skillet song for you: Hero. Go check that song out. Monster, Awake and Alive, and Hero are my favorite songs by Skillet... sooo amazing... and fine... you can call me Sandy. *laughs*  
FD *rolls his eyes* "I can be taller."  
Who do you think killed Rouge...? (*laughs* and every time when someone says Le gasp I start laughing)  
Katherine *points at Storm* "Aero belongs to Storm. And you're forgiving, the bully is a jerk."  
Zap "I do happen to rewrite many things..."  
And I loved the quote again! I hope that bully came to his scenes... humph, doubt it though.**

**Amicus= Agreed! I don't think I could kill them either... no matter HOW annoying some can be *glares at Zap* but you have braces? Bleh... I hated those. Do you get them off soon at least?  
Xsus *grins and pokes you back*  
Yeah, future Xsus and Xsus... you'll find out in this chapter. *shakes head slowly* But yes, Xerius and Hydro and basically the same age.  
Ah, well still about your guess... either way you'll find out soon!  
I agree! This is really an interesting round of truth or dare...**

**Raeweis= and I KNOW it's a good chapter if you take enough risks to read it during computer class! I feel honored! Thank you, raeweis! And yes, Chase's distraction worked very, very well *laughs* Glad you liked it!**

**Storm=Your schemeal... *looks thoughtful then grins* I think I know who you're talking about...! And yes, this chapter is going to be VERY interesting...**

**UFO= You think Hydro would've won...? In a way, I could see that happening but Hydro and Xerius were evenly matched in a very, very weird way. Haha, and yes, Chase is awesome like that.  
Chase "Yes, yes I am."  
Me "Oh come on, how did you get into the author's notes?"  
Chase "And why wasn't I...?"  
Looks like I have a video to see...! And your sister's coming over from Germany?! That's soooo cool! I always wanted to go to Germany too (heck out of the United States...)  
That sounds like an awesome dream! YOU WENT TO NEVERLAND?! You got to tell me the others, I had a dream a few days ago about a man who kept talking about a bomb and was trying to kill me... *laughs weakly* I know, inspiring.  
Zap *laughs until I swat him as you put on the rubber glove*  
Me "He forgave you...!"**

**Rya= Haha, so you did it the lazy way... that's awesome. *applauds* and I love your gangsta poses. They're amazing.  
Zap *eyes big* "..."  
Windy *waves hands at you* "Okay! Okay! Calm down...!"  
Hmm... make a very interesting incident happen, maybe that will get them to start to get along. You know, if I wasn't careful, I could have an OC civil war on my hands? Chase vs. Xsus... they actually do not get along well.  
Sorro "Oooooh!" *points to Xerius* "Aha!"  
Xerius *glares*  
Shadow "Thanks for the support, Rya!"  
FD "And this... is why I rule the Followers of Darkness' territory. Free country, ha!"  
Zap *glares at FD* "Now that five minutes have passed... and that's why so many people are leaving your territory."  
FD "They are not."  
Zap "Are too... and Rya! Give me the camera...!"  
Lol, in the other dimension they have the Council of Death instead of hades or any other dead place you can think of, the Council of Death though is a whole new term of thinking so... I'll keep it at that until I bring them in someday.  
Windy "I do mind actually...! I am not coming outside with you anytime soon, Rya."  
Yeah, we always call Xerius the pride personality. He and along with Flame have the highest dignities you can ever run into. *shakes head slowly***

**Strife= Yeah, that's what I like about Hydro, evenly matched for everyone.**  
**Flame *viscously rubs her cheek* "I can't believe you...! Humph!"**

**Guest Reviewer= I can't remember your name and I don't have time to check it out...! I'm so sorry *laughs weakly* but I'm very glad that you liked the story, I worked very hard on it and almost, ALMOST gave up on it but thanks to the help of so many I managed not to fall apart and made it to the end. I hope you're liking this one just as much and thanks! You beat my high score of reviews on the Return: 130 reviews!  
**

**DISCLAIMER= *Windy hands the paper to Zap and scowls* "I'm not allowed to talk anymore."  
Zap *looks at the paper with a shrug* "Okay, a dare for Rya... we dare you to... seriously?! Who wrote this one?!"  
Xsus "Ooo! Ooo! Let me see it! Let me see it!"  
Zap *hands the paper to Xsus as he doesn't even bother reading it, just runs off and hands the paper to Amicus*  
Chaos "Was it one of the ones I wrote?"  
Zap "Chaos, we already did all of yours!"  
Chaos "So?"  
UFO *takes the rubber glove off his head* "They were a few good dares."  
Retto "And they were funny to watch too... except Blackie's dare."  
Blackie *shudders*  
Zap *waves a hand* "Anyways, Rya? I want you to do the dance to the Macarena..." *smirks as he finishes* "In the middle of Light Givers' square."  
Raeweis "Oh my gosh...! I'd never do that...!"  
Blackie *sits back in her chair* "Depends, if I was doing it with someone..."  
Storm "Okay, that's true, when you're doing it with people it's so much easier."  
Chaos "I'll do it with you!"  
Zap *shrugs* "Alright, Rya, Chaos, good luck."  
Windy "And before you go, Strife! The disclaimer please, since you somewhat kissed Flame."  
Flame *crosses arms with a scowl* "Stupid truth or dare games...!"  
Strife *shrugs* "Alright, Sonic and Co. belong to SEGA, Chaos owns Chaos, Storm owns Aero, Robyn, and Kelly, Blackie owns the Dimension Jumpers, and I own some ideas in this story along with the character Alena, who myself and Blackie share."  
Windy *nods* "That'll work."  
Zap *snaps and Rya and Chaos disappear and appear in the middle of Light Givers' square* "And the truth for the rest of you... worst thing you've ever said to a teacher for the heck of it."  
**

Chapter Eight=

TIME= 13 HOURS 59 MINUTES

AREA= STATION SQUARE

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

There was a long moment of silence as past and present stared at each other in the tent. Everyone else stood around them and looked at each other uncomfortably. The only one missing at the current moment was Sonic the hedgehog and Shadow the hedgehog, but everyone else was still there. Chase had managed to calm the crowd down while everyone snuck into the tent but the crowd was still outside, cheering loudly.

Hydro stood with his arms crossed and looked down at his younger self with a frown on his face. So, this was what he looked like when he was ten? He did look very childish like everyone said he did. The innocence shined like a birthday candle in his blue eyes.

Xsus on the other hand could only gape at his older self. So, he grew up? Was this what he looked like? He looked so strong! Xsus then wondered if his future self still liked ice cream.

"This…" Chase finally said, "Is _really_ weird."

"I'll say," Amy Rose said as she put a hand to her hip. "There's two of them now."

Hydro glared at Amy. "I can hear you, you know."

Amy blinked. "Sorry, sorry!"

Xsus pointed at Hydro. "There… there's no way you're me! I promised myself that I'd never grow up!"

Hydro frowned at Xsus. "But here I am and here are you."

"So?!" Xsus tapped his foot angrily as he crossed his arms. "That doesn't change a teany tiny thing!"

Hydro's face was expressionless.

Xsus lifted a hand out to Hydro. "I mean… why? Why?"

"Why what?"

"You're me! You should know!"

"Why did I grow up? Someone needed to be the adult when everyone else died and gave up fighting."

Cream huddled behind her mother. "Older Xsus is scary, mama."

Vanilla patted Cream's head lightly and everyone missed Xsus and Hydro flinching at the same time as they looked at the two rabbits. "Don't worry, dear, everything will be fine!"

Suddenly, from the flap in the tent, Sonic the hedgehog stumbled in followed by an annoyed Shadow the hedgehog. Everyone looked at them in surprise as Sonic laughed quietly to himself… then noticed everyone else in the room. The blue blur frowned as they stared at him. "Hey guys… what's with the long faces?"

Xerius said nothing as he waved a hand to Hydro and Xsus.

Sonic frowned when he noticed the situation. "Well, Hydro's still here… and the crowd outside looks like they're ready to tear the tent apart."

Espio nodded. "We should get out of here before they do try something funny."

"Like what Espio?" Charmy asked as he floated around the chameleon's head.

Espio glanced up at the bee. "Humph, like tearing apart the tent."

"That'd be terrible!" Xsus jumped forward and everyone looked at him, "All those hard hours of work… all for nothing!"

"I got the perfect place for us to go," Sonic offered with a grin. "It's safe, no one can find us there, and we can plan out our next move. But first we need to get to the train station…"

"Where is this place?" Katherine asked with a frown.

"Train station first," Sonic insisted.

Katherine shrugged, "Alright, any ideas?"

"Chaos Control," Shadow offered. "It'll get us there the fastest. Does anyone have a Chaos Emerald with them?"

Knuckles lifted a blue emerald and he grinned when everyone looked at him in surprise. "What? I never leave Angel Island without one!" He said with a laugh as he tossed the emerald to a surprised Shadow.

"I'll stay here," Vanilla offered. "This will be a great chance to boost up my business."

"But mama!"

"I'll be fine Cream, you take good care of her Sonic."

Sonic showed Vanilla his trademark grin and thumbs up, "You got it!"

"Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled, lifting the emerald into the air. All disappeared in a flash of light, leaving behind the tent, the cookies, and Vanilla. When the light faded, all of them found themselves at a vacant train station. A female mink was standing behind one of the stations reading a newspaper. Her purple fur glowed in the lamp she was reading the newspaper next to as she looked up in surprise at the group. She pushed her reading glasses to the bridge of her small nose as she turned to the group. "Hello children! How can I help you today?"

"Children?" Hydro muttered, obviously irritated by the comment.

Sonic marched up to the woman and put his hands on the wooden counter. "We need some tickets to get onto the northbound train."

"How many tickets?" The mink asked as she turned towards the computer next to her. She typed in a few commands and looked at Sonic with a frown when he didn't answer. "How many tickets, dear?"

Sonic's face turned red and he turned to look at the group as Katherine did a quick head count. "Five, eight, eleven, fourteen, and… that makes twenty-one."

Sonic whistled as he turned to the minx. "And then there were twenty-one," He muttered to himself.

The minx frowned. "Are you kids going to a family reunion or something?"

Everyone around then realized the mink didn't know who any of them were. Chaos grinned, deciding to take advantage of the situation. He wrapped an arm around Maria as the hedgehog's face turned red. "Um… yes we are! Everyone calls me Uncle Chaos and Xsus over there is my… nephew."

Xsus did a fist pump. "Yessss!"

Sonic rolled his eyes as he pulled out the desired amount of rings for the tickets and he turned to everyone when he was done. "Each of you owe me fifty rings," He said dryly as he led the way towards the escalators leading underground.

Katherine sighed and waved a hand at Sonic. "I'll pay you back later."

Shadow crossed his arms. "I work for G.U.N. since when have I had to pay anything to you, Faker?"

-XXXXXXXX-

About a half hour later, the crew found themselves on a train heading north. All of them sat on blue cushioned chairs on the electric train. The lights shined down above them and all the seats were facing each other, making everyone sit across from someone they knew. They were the only ones on the train as it flew at amazing speeds north.

Sonic glanced out the window as they drove along, slowly moving from side to side thanks to the momentum of the train. He watched the hundreds of trees fly past him as the train sped along. He was almost tempted to throw open the window and run to their destination himself, but the others would get lost before so he had to patiently wait.

"I've never seen Sonic sit still for so long before," Amy muttered to Cream as she sat next to her.

Cream frowned. "Maybe Mr. Sonic wants to make sure we make it to the place we're going safely."

"Speaking of which, hey Sonic! Where are we going?" Amy asked as the blue blur turned to glance at her.

"My house…" Sonic said slowly.

"You have a house?" Katherine blinked in surprise and perked her black cat ears upwards.

Shadow rolled his eyes. "No Katherine, he sleeps all the time underneath trees."

Katherine scowled. "It was just a simple question!"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Anyways, yeah I live up here so that if I want no one to bother me no one does. I normally head up here when we beat Eggman or anyone else. It's a mansion so all of us can fit in there easily."

Hydro laced his fingers together as he sat back in his chair. "You've never mentioned of a house in the future, Sonic. Why are you taking us here now?"

Sonic shrugged. "Seemed like a perfect place to keep your profile low. If G.U.N. learns that you're from a distant future they'll be all over you like they were for Silver and Blaze a few years back. Anyone else's home might've threatened if you stayed there, even Tails' shop. Rumors spread quick when they sound interesting. The last thing we want to deal with is some rumor that Tails created a second Xsus."

"But everyone saw me at the parade," Hydro argued.

"And they thought you and Xerius fighting was just a part of the show." Sonic said seriously.

"Touché…" Hydro scowled.

"Either way, if G.U.N. does go after us they won't be able to find us at my place." Sonic said with a shrug. "It's a perfect place to hide."

They all became quiet until a trolley cart came by. The cart was filled with a large array of sugars and other sweets. Everyone felt dread course through them when Xsus managed to get Charmy, Cream, and himself some of the sweets as the human vender distributed the goods to them.

"Have a good day kids," The vender said with a grin as he pushed his cart away.

"Thanks! You too mister!" Xsus waved and Charmy and Cream followed his example as Xsus lifted a bar of chocolate. "Wow, look at this! It's huge!"

"We're doomed…!" Katherine muttered.

Cream frowned as she looked at the chocolate bar. "What are you going to do with it Xsus?"

Xsus smiled at the rabbit. "I'm going to eat it!"

"I want some too, Xsus," Charmy whined.

"You got some already! Hey, get off me! Charmy!" Xsus lifted the chocolate bar into the air as Charmy tried grabbing it.

"Aw come on! Just a bite Xsus?"

"No! It's mine! Mine!"

Both boys fell off their chairs and started wrestling with each other to have an advantage over the bar of chocolate while Cream laughed.

"So…" Chase gave Hydro a suspicious look while the boys rolled past him. "Don't you want some chocolate, Xsus…? I mean, Hydro?"

Hydro lifted his gaze onto Chase and crossed his arms. "I don't eat or drink anything with sugar in it much anymore."

There was a moment of silence, besides the two boys bickering and Cream's laughter.

Chase frowned. "So, if you're from the future seven years and half of us are apparently dead, who's still alive?"

Hydro frowned as he remembered that he explained to all of them what had happened in the future and what happened in the future while they all waited for the train. He had got some funny looks as he explained his story but no one went against him.

Hydro shook his head, focusing himself onto Chase's question again. "Um… Jason, Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Father Darkness, myself… and a few others."

"Mr. Hydro," Cream suddenly asked and Hydro tensed up, like he was prepared to get punched multiple times by the girl as the rabbit scooted up next to him. "Am I alive in the future?"

Hydro crossed his arms and looked at the ground as everyone looked to him for an answer. Future Xsus flattened his ears as he looked to the ground, and Cream frowned at his behavior. "Cream… you're…" He started to say but stopped himself.

Everyone watched with frowns on their faces as Hydro stood up and shook his head. "Excuse me," He muttered and he left the room without looking back. As soon as he was gone, the others looked at each other with frowns wondering what just happened.

-XXXXXXXX-

TIME= 06 HOURS 19 MINUTES

AREA= UNDERGROUND CITY

YEAR= THIRTEEN YEARS IN THE FUTURE

"Sorro…!" Robyn called out quietly as she looked at the empty tent. She smiled weakly when she saw the small light brown colored cat stuffing random items into his leather bag that was sitting next to him, not looking back at her. Robyn chuckled and called out for the boy again. "Sorro…!"

Sorro glanced back, looking much older now then he had six years ago. He was eleven now, older, smarter, and more mature. But, he still had a bit of a childish light in his eyes as he looked back at Robyn. "Hey Robyn, what's up?"

"Father Darkness would like to see you." Robyn said with a small, sad smile.

Sorro nodded as he climbed out of the tent, strapping his bag over his shoulder. He glanced back at the tent before leaving and picked up a cloth on the nearby wooden dresser. He stuffed that in his bag along with a picture of Xerius and a ten-year-old Xsus before looking at Robyn. "Is it time…?"

"Yes," Robyn sighed. "We have to go; there are only five of us left here anyways."

Sorro reached into his bag and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on before also pulling out a paper and lightning the paper on fire. He then tossed the paper into the tent and watched it light on fire as he sighed. "I'm going to miss that tent."

"Everyone is going to miss their tents. Now come on, FD wants us to move out before they come and kill us." Robyn muttered.

Sorro ran after Robyn as the grey fox turned around and led the way through the abandoned tent city. The cat's blue eyes glanced to the left and to the right as he ran. He stopped when he reached Tails' abandoned tent and glanced inside for a final time, still seeing nothing.

"Sorro, come on!" Robyn insisted as she came back and pulled on the cat's arm. "Now is not the time to be stuck in the past!"

"I was just checking to see if Xsus came back! Sheesh!" Sorro muttered as he looked out of the tent and walked away. Robyn sighed again and followed the boy as he walked through the streets towards the elevator. When he reached it, he glanced back seeing that his tent was slowly catching other tents on fire, destroying the remains of the Underground City.

Robyn pressed the up button and the elevator dropped down before them and the two climbed inside. Sorro gave the city one last look until the elevator shot upwards. Things were harder without Xsus and Clive around. Aero was able to find the Underground City and was slowly killing off families one by one. All the people that were left in both dimensions would be Robyn, Father Darkness, Alena, Kelly, and himself.

The doors opened and Robyn and Sorro stepped out into the dead air. Trees had stopped growing and all that was left was their hardened, black trunks and bare branches. The grass underneath their feet crunched as they walked forward, seeing Father Darkness with his back against a tree, Alena was sitting silently in a tree, and Kelly was sitting in the grass.

"I got him," Robyn called and everyone looked over at the two in surprise.

"Yeah," Sorro rubbed the back of his head. "I'm here."

Father Darkness smirked. "And you brought your purse with you, brilliant."

"It's not a purse!" Sorro glared at FD. The two had been having this argument for years, ever since Shadow first introduced the boy to the Lord of Darkness when Sorro barely turned seven.

FD shook his head waving a hand at Sorro. "This is not the time for such a childish behavior…"

"Childish behavior?!"

"…but we need to get you four moving, Aero is coming for his final attack and no one will die under my watch." FD continued, like Sorro had said nothing. "I propose to send you all to the past like I have done to Xsus and Clive. The two have obviously failed in their mission. I've waited for years for something to happen but since I'm not trying to currently try to kill any of you, something in the past is still broken."

"How can we do that?" Alena asked and everyone looked to her. She was a fox like Robyn, but had nine tails, all of which hung off the tree branch she was sitting on. Her fur was the color of snow and her eyes that were similar to Katherine's color: sky blue. She wore black jeans that were tucked into black boots along with a black shirt to top it all off. Alena was found when Shadow and Sonic were running through an abandoned town and found her holding her own against Tiane a few years ago.

Father Darkness waved a hand. "I have more tricks up my sleeve then any of you can believe. Now let us depart. Aero does happen to be right behind us."

The others spun around in shock to see none other than the dark hedgehog himself walking out of the dead forest with a smirk on his face. He clapped slowly as Sorro reached into his bag, grabbing one of the many glass bottles hidden inside. "Well done, Father Darkness! All these years and yet you still cannot manage to be fooled!"

"I suppose that's what you get…" Father Darkness said with a sigh and then he suddenly smirked, "When you're the best."

Aero glared at Father Darkness as he walked forward. "The best? I think you're mistaken. We all know who the champion is. It's me. I've won, Father Darkness, you are nothing now. You aren't even a ruler of anything! I've destroyed everything that you held for a title!"

Father Darkness sneered. "Such a blind fool you are." He glanced back at his group and all of them froze when they heard a telepathic voice echo through their minds. _"Go, all of you. Now. Do not fear for me."_

Sorro blinked nervously. _What's going on? _He wondered, glancing from Aero to FD.

_"Go. Now."_

Alena jumped from the tree as Kelly jumped to her feet. The three girls grabbed Sorro and yanked him along, leaving Father Darkness and Aero behind without any of them looking back once.

As they ran, Sorro pulled out a glass bottle with blue liquid in it. He glanced to his left and suddenly froze. "STOP!"

Everyone stopped as a sudden large creature flew right past the spot they would've been if they didn't listen to Sorro's warning. The tree that was in the creature's path was snapped like a toothpick as the monster shot off into the air.

"What the…?!" Robyn started to say but stopped when Sorro chucked the blue vial at the beast of darkness as it spun around for another attack.

"Eat gas, you jerk! This is for dad!" Sorro yelled as the vial shattered on the monster's face and the liquid exploded into a blue gas that surrounded the entire area. Sorro ran forward followed by the others as they ran away from the fight behind.

Father Darkness smirked as he glanced back, his black eyes as cold as they have ever been. He lifted up a hand that was glowing with black energy and clenched it into a fist, a flash of light was seen behind him and Sorro, Kelly, Robyn, and Alena disappeared forever from this time.

Aero saw the move and his eyes became darker as the blue gas from Sorro's bottle swirled around them. The monster from earlier flew off while wailing, since the blue liquid was made out of acid and getting cuts from the glass bottle probably wasn't helping it out.

"You think they can stop me in the past! I'll go after them after I kill you…!" Aero hissed angrily, lifting his hands as claws grew from his fingertips. He barred his sharp fangs for Father Darkness to see but the immortal only laughed.

"Poor, poor Aero, who's the master now?" Father Darkness sneered, "All these years of patiently waiting only to miss your objective! Such, a pity."

Aero clenched his fists. "Who asked you for anything, Father Darkness?"

FD smirked, "Because I have one final card to play." To prove his point, FD flicked a hand and in a flash of dark light, a playing card appeared in it. On one side it was as black as the night, with the symbol of an unknown monster with gleaming red eyes. On the other side it was a golden color with a white wolf on it with glowing blue eyes**.1**

"Are we going to play cards now?" Aero asked mockingly.

Father Darkness shook his head with a smirk, "Of course not, little boy. It's time I rid this world of both the day and the night." FD dropped the card and Aero could only watch as it gently floated downwards and touched the ground…

…and then the planet they were on exploded with a bang. All that was left was Father Darkness' last, laughing words, _"I've ridded the world of the light, darkness will now reign eternal! Chaos will always win! Ahahaha!"_

**1. Called the card of destiny. How Father Darkness actually got it is unknown but it is rumored to hold the fate of the universe and is the most unstable of all energies: a mix of both light and darkness. You'll learn more about it later.  
**

**….**

**…...**

***applauds* And that is why I both fear, hate, and respect Father Darkness. So please do leave a review and I'll see you when the next chapter comes around.**

**FD *appears* "You fear me...?"**

**Blackie *glares* "Do not! Everyone! Let's get him!"**

***all authors jump to their feet***

**FD *sighs* "No respect..."**


	9. Chapter 9

**Oh my gosh… I can't believe I wrote that… *shakes head slowly at a few chapters from here* anyways, hi people and welcome to the next chapter of This Is War! Thanks goes to my Ohana for reviewing:**

**Strife= So, your girlfriend made Zenox? AND she writes?! I take my hat off to her…! …if I was wearing one. Hey Xerius…?  
Xerius **_**"Get your own hat, BlackSandHeart."**_**  
Anyways, *glares at Xerius* so yeah, FD blew up another world. This makes it a total of… about five worlds now. But those are other stories, moving on, exactly! I always wondered what the heck he'd do with all those blasted rings he gets in the games so I was like: he needs a mansion, and then I laughed as soon as I wrote that because I remembered you did the same thing. And yes, Alena, Robyn, Kelly, and Sorro are in the past now…**

**Storm= FD "Why thank you…"  
Me *walks up* "Skedaddle out of here, fool."  
FD "Humph, very well." *disappears*  
ANYWAYS, yeah so Hydro isn't exactly the same since Cream dies, Aero will go after Robyn soon, and I'm not spoiling anything else!  
Katherine *hugs Braelyn and looks at Kelly* "Don't cry…! If you cry you're going to make me cry and then we'll all be screwed."**

**Chaos= So, the coward didn't show his face? Humph, logical I suppose… anyways *waves a hand and laughs* Yes. Uncle Chaos.  
Katherine *scowls* "If it makes you feel better Chaos… he's been calling me…"  
Xsus "Auntie Katherine…!"  
Katherine *sighs*  
Zap "Chaos. You stay **_**away**_** from me and we'll all be good."  
Hmm…so he's more ruthless? Huh, I'm going to have to check this story out then soon! And Sierra defies him, score! Sierra, I'm so proud of you.  
Sierra "This doesn't mean I've done it yet! I will not betray the one who brought me to this world without a good reason…!"  
Is Sonic a good enough reason, Sierra?  
Sierra *face turns red and looks away*  
*smirks* score. Anyways, yes he has a mansion. What else does he do with all those coins he gets from defeating Eggman? I don't think he wastes them all on chilidogs… I think…  
*waves hands at you before you can attack* Hang on, hang on! Even if you don't like dancing…! It's just the ****Macarena! Anyone can do that dance…!  
So you're a year nine huh…? I feel your pain, even if I'm a bit older than you, but I have to take the big state test at the end of this year (basically the test says that if I fail: I'm screwed for life *sighs*). Oh my gosh! I hate it when the teachers put all my friends on the other end of the room…! And then you have the annoying people asking you for all the questions… *shakes head slowly while scowling*  
*****laughs*That was an awesome story, and that right there is why I love death glares. Thanks for your confidence Chaos, but I'm not sure if I'll find anyone. I am **_**not**_** like most girls who worry about their hair or appearance. I just do what I want to do, which just isn't normal for girls where I am *shrugs* but hey, I could be wrong! Can't give up hope now.  
That's an awesome back story for you OC, so wait what similarity does that make him have with Shadow and the Lady of the Lake from the Black Knight…?  
About your question: I must be needing glasses or something cause I can't find them… *sighs* can you ask me them again? I know, I know, it's an epic fail but I've been having a lot of Skorsh/Xsus moments lately.  
Ooooh! I love that quote! It's one of my favorite parts in the movie right there…!**

**Amicus= Ah in December, that's not too far away, thank the Light Givers!  
Xsus *giggles and pokes you back* "To Neverland!"  
Yeah Sonic, you didn't tell any of us you had a house.  
Sonic "I'm not getting involved in this…!"  
Anyways, yes that's the weird part about Father Darkness… he does everything in secret. But glad to see he shocked you, that's when I know my bad guy's good!**

**Rya= Welcome!  
Zap *annoyed look* "Quite."  
Yeah, that's probably the main reason why Chase never dares to pick a fight with Xsus currently. If they didn't have to worry about them then I'd have to worry about my OC civil war. *shakes head slowly*  
Shadow *glares*  
Katherine *points at Shadow* "Aha!"  
Oh my gosh, if I was in the Land of Darkness…! I'd run. Let's just face it, I'd grab my sword and run.  
Zap *glances at FD* "What if I just screwed up with the copier since it **_**is**_** technology and since I **_**do **_**have the ability to control lightning?"  
FD *shrugs*  
You gotta point there! The Day of the Dead just proves that they need to tighten up their security, maybe I should write a letter to them about this: 'Dear members of the Council of Death…' *laughs*. So yes, all those guys are in the past now… and about Clive… you'll find out soon.  
Zap "The author's power…!"  
Me "Shut it, I'm still mad at you about the internet incident, mind you."  
FD *sighs* "Zap, everyone is out for both of us."  
Lol, sorry! *rubs back of her head sheepishly* I never thought of telling you! It just never crossed my mind to do so. Okay, so the ones who are immortal: Zap, Windy, FD, Shadow, Katherine, Chaos (the hedgehog), and that's about it. Ah, and Chaos doesn't have a current account, well I mean he has one but he can't use it because his dad changed his email account. But, if you want to know what it is it's Chaotic Hedgehog.**

**UFO= I bet your having fun with your sister from Germany. Tell her I said hi! Wait, no… don't. I don't even know her… *laughs suddenly* I think I did this with the sister of yours that got married too didn't I?**

**Retto= Happy one day later birthday, friend, hope to see you around soon!**

**Raeweis= I was finally able to review to your **_**I Will Remain**_** story! *feels accomplished and walks off with a grin***

**Disclaimer= And… here's another one *shakes head slowly* I cannot believe I'm still alive after eating that sandwich…! I think this might be the last one I'm doing too. (if any of you object leave it in the review).  
Zap *pulls another paper out with a smirk on his face* "So… the final one I suppose?"  
Windy *shrugs* "I don't see why not?"  
Zap "Alright, well who wants to be dared…?"  
Rya "Uh… I'll go again!"  
Zap *points to her* "Disclaimer first!"  
Rya *sighs and is about to speak when Windy stops her*  
Windy "To the tune of… any ideas people?"  
Chaos "Mary had a little lamb!"  
Blackie *laughs* "That'll be interesting."  
Rya *shrugs* "Okay…" *takes a deep breath* "Sonic is owned by the people known as SEGA, SEGA, SEGA! BlackSandHeart owns the Dimension Jumpers, and Chaos owns Chaos…" *stops and frowns* "…that's all to the song…"  
Zap "Start over."  
Rya "Um… BlackStormNomad owns the characters known as Aero, Kelly, and Robyn too! Strife the Dark owns some ideas and shares the character Alena… uh… start over again?"  
Zap *nods*  
Rya "Can it be a big finale?!"  
Zap *sighs* "Go ahead."  
Rya *turns to the others expectantly*  
Amicus "Uh… the…?"  
Rya *nods*  
UFO "With the big explosion…?"  
Rya *nods again*  
Storm "And the…?" *makes the hand motion for an explosion*  
Rya *sighs and nods*  
Raeweis *grins and opened her mouth* "With the…!"  
Rya "Yes!"  
*the others pull out a large firework and Zap face palms. Retto pulls a match out of his pocket and lights the fuse on fire* Blackie *turns to Retto* "And where did you get those…?"  
Retto "I'm full of surprises."  
Strife "Everyone, back up…!"  
*Everyone backs off and the firework launches into the sky and explodes as Rya slides on her knees, lifting her hands to the sky* "And Alena's shared by Strife and Blackie!"  
Zap *blinks slowly* "That was actually impressive enough that you don't need to do the dare anymore."  
*authors give each other high fives***

Chapter Nine=

TIME= 06 HOURS 50 MINUTES

AREA= SONIC'S HOME

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

Sonic yawned as he walked out of his bedroom. He glanced around the familiar hallways of his home in the middle of the mountains, hidden so that no one could find him. The floors were lined with velvet and the doors to all the other rooms were closed. There were enough rooms for everyone to have their own with a few extra to spare.

Sonic chuckled to himself as he walked down one of the hallways, stopping to throw open the curtains to a giant glass window. He had saved up money for years at a time with the rewards he got for destroying Eggman so he could buy this house and fix it up. When he first found it, it was a junk keep but over the years, he was able to fix it up to the glory it should have.

After throwing open the curtains, the blue blur found himself staring at a lush green forest with a bit of frost and snow covering the ground. The crew had arrived here late last night, making it not much of a sight at first for everyone. However, it was morning now and the blue blur knew how excited the younger kids of the group would be to explore the mansion.

Suddenly, the sweet aroma of syrup and breakfast foods floated up and onto the hallway. Sonic sniffed the air and frowned, who was up at this hour? The blue hedgehog ran to the other side of the hallway and ran down the stairs, finding himself in a large living room attached to a kitchen.

Sonic crossed his arms as he looked around the living room with a smile. He had decorated the room himself, with three leather couches to the left, a flat screen TV on the nearby wall, before the TV. A fireplace sitting in front of all the couches and someone had already lit it so the sound of burning wood could be heard. Sonic turned his attention towards the kitchen where he saw a large, white kitchen with a dishwasher and other utensils. The door to the pantry closed and Sonic blinked in surprise when he saw that Hydro was up. Hydro didn't even glance at Sonic as he stepped away from the pantry with a large metal bowl in one hand and a bottle of vanilla in the other.

Sonic was about to walk towards Hydro and greet the golden cat but he stopped when he realized Hydro was quietly singing to himself.

The blue blur crossed his arms and listened intently, his ears twitching as he heard Hydro's song.

_"Without you, life has no meaning…_

_What's the point of living without someone to take care of you?_

_If I had one wish, one dream, it'd be to bring you home where you belong…"_

Hydro stopped singing and hummed to himself the tune to the song as he placed the bowl on the counter and gently poured some of the vanilla into it before grabbing a large fork out of a nearby drawer.

"So…" Sonic said when he couldn't wait any longer. "What's that tune you're singing?"

"Cream and I would sing…" Hydro started saying, not even realizing he was talking but he suddenly stopped. He glanced up, blue eyes flashing and then darkening suddenly. He shook his head and then became silent.

"Sorry," Sonic said as he walked up to Hydro. "You need any help?"

"I'm fine," Hydro muttered. "I got this, I've been cooking for years now to keep myself and a few others going."

Sonic frowned as he took one of the bar chairs before the kitchen counter. He spun around in it for a moment before turning his attention to Hydro. "So, who do you take care of in the future? It sounds like you have a heavy load."

Hydro laughed weakly, his eyes lighting up for a moment as he pulled a measuring cup out of another drawer. As he pulled milk out of the fridge, Sonic mentally wondered how the future Xsus knew where everything was, since he had never been here before.

"There's this kid in the future," Hydro suddenly said, pulling Sonic out of his thoughts. "His dad died while fighting a monster, we call him Sorro."

"Sorro, huh?" Sonic frowned. "Sounds like a cool name, who's his dad?"

"I can't tell, I don't want him to vanish before me…" Hydro said seriously. "But what I can tell you is he looks a lot like his parents."

"What does he like to do?"

Hydro laughed and Sonic couldn't help but notice how happy it sounded. Hydro was always so serious that the laugh sounded like the last time Hydro did it was seven years ago on this day. "He has this bag he carries _everywhere_ with him. I swear he could have a zoo fit inside there."

"Really?"

"Yes, he would always argue with some kids his age and older that it wasn't a purse since everyone thought it was. Sorro's dad gave it to him just before his mother died, it's kind of like a last minute present and Sorro keeps it everywhere with him."

Sonic laughed. "Well that's cool, anyone else you take care of?"

"Well, I kind of keep an eye on you Sonic."

"Why me?"

"You never were the same after Sierra died."

Sonic felt his face turn red, "W-wonder why."

Hydro snickered as he stirred the contraption in the bowl. "I know exactly what happens between you two Sonic, you might as well not hide something like that from me. But anyways, I kind of keep an eye on everyone but Sorro's the one I keep the closest eye on. If it wasn't for what his dad had done for me… I wouldn't be here."

Sonic watched the golden cat then use the measuring cup to pour out pancakes onto a nearby mini griddle. The pancakes sizzled as Hydro looked back up at Sonic and put his hands on the counter. "So, what are you doing up this early, Sonic?"

Sonic laughed. "I could be saying the same about you, Xsus."

Hydro chuckled as he stood up, crossing his arms. "I couldn't sleep well," He said with a shrug as he walked around the counter and into the front room. He picked up the TV remote from the edge of the couch and pressed a button, eyes flashing when the TV turned on, straight to the news channel.

"Why are you watching the news?" Sonic asked.

"I'm just checking to see if Aero will strike when I'm not looking," Hydro said with a shrug. "I want to keep the present safe and fix the future."

"But don't you know you'll vanish?" Sonic asked as he slowly walked up towards Hydro, getting off of the chair he was on as he did so.

"Yes, but it's a price I'll pay to make things right again." Hydro said with a sigh. "The future's terrible. Imagine waking up every morning wondering if that day was going to be your last. Is Aero going to come flying around the corner? Will it be another monster? Were you going to be killed by someone in the city who didn't have enough food? Some people on our team got married early because they wanted to be with the ones they loved."

"Did you get married?"

Hydro's face turned red. "Me?! Married?! I'm only seventeen… like that makes a difference though. But no, I didn't get married. I should've though… but I didn't see my mistake until she died in my arms…"

"You mean Cream, don't you?"

Hydro growled angrily. "Look Sonic, no offence, but…" The boy trailed off and flattened his ears, looking at the ground while the news report talked about the G.U.N. parade and how Sonic and the others beat Eggman for the trillionth time or so.

Sonic put a hand on Hydro's shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Xsus, everything will be okay. We'll fix this mistake just like we fixed the mistakes we've made earlier. Remember the Day of the Dead? We'll fix it like we did then."

Hydro laughed. "Remember when Rouge kissed Xerius?"

"Remember when you showed me you could fly?" Sonic said with a laugh and Hydro smiled a smile that actually reached his eyes for once.

The cat turned and walked back into the kitchen, flipping the pancakes over onto their other side before coming back into the living room, looking at the TV seriously. "I actually hope I disappear soon, Sonic. If I disappear that means the future's safe and I don't have to worry about this nightmare for… forever. But at the same time I don't. I like being alive, making my own choices the fact that changing a choice blocks me out of existence is just… terrible."

"Bet you Mephiles thought so too…!" Sonic teased.

Hydro scowled at Sonic. "Sonic! I'm being serious here!"

"I know, I know," Sonic said with a laugh. "But come on, Hydro we can't just worry about these sort of things now. Just keep in mind that the choice is yours. We'll work through this together."

Hydro nodded slowly but both froze when they heard the sound of the TV suddenly turn into static. Both turned their attention to the machine as the static suddenly turned into the image of a Mobian raccoon. It was black and white but it had a furious look in its blue eyes.

Hydro paled. "Clive!"

Clive the raccoon sneered at the TV screen, obviously not being able to see the golden cat. "Hey, Xsus, how are you doing?! How have you been ever since you've _ditched_ me? All you did was use me for my time traveling abilities didn't you? I knew you were the monster all along! You've been gloating with your friends haven't you?

"What are you talking about, Clive?!" Hydro yelled at the TV screen but of course, since it was a TV he was yelling to, Clive heard nothing and continued his rant.

"Well don't you worry about _me_, Xsus, because I have friends of my own…" With that Clive stepped away from the camera, giving the view of the room Sonic and his friends had first met Hydro in. He turned towards the red button and gave the camera a dark smirk.

"You wouldn't dare…!" Hydro growled, lifting his fist angrily. "That's the machine that destroyed the future and caused this to happen in the first place!"

Clive took another step to the machine. "If I activate the ARK experiments instead of Shadow the hedgehog, maybe this time, _this_ time, I can control Aero to do what I please so he won't destroy the world, but I'll destroy you, Xsus, you hear me?! Meet me on the ARK if you dare to challenge me!"

"Clive, stop!" Hydro lifted a hand towards the TV screen as Clive lifted a fist and slammed it into the red button.

The TV suddenly went static again.

"NO!" Hydro yelled he turned to Sonic, eyes wide with terror and worry. "I have to stop him, if I don't make it out alive then keep an eye on each other no matter what. Take _nothing_ for granted!"

Hydro closed his eyes, concentrated, and vanished in a flash of white light before the blue blur had a chance to open his mouth to object. Sonic blinked, shook his head, looked at the static TV, then at the place Hydro once stood before shaking his head again angrily.

"Hydro…! You can't do this on your own!" Sonic finally said. He turned towards the stairs and ran up them at full speed to find the one person who was always awake.

As he ran past though, he failed to notice a light brown cat walk out into the morning light, his brown eyes narrowing. Xerius turned his attention to the spot Hydro once stood and looked to the static TV. _"Take nothing for granted… it looks like he's finally listening to me in the future." _Xerius said dryly as he crossed his arms. _"But, Sonic is right; you can't do this on your own Xsus…"_

_"You'll die if you do."_

**Zap *sighs* "And I think I'm going to stop Rya before she prints out anymore pictures."**

**FD *glances at him* "Good luck with that."**

**Windy "So, please explain to me, how did we get tied up together on a boat in the middle of the ocean? Heck, how did Rya find us with a helicopter to take pictures for the other authors?"**

**Zap "Maybe this is their revenge on me for blowing out BlackSandHeart's internet."**

**FD "Maybe this is a way for you to finally learn the true meaning of the horrors of Darkness."**

**Zap "Oh screw you and your darkness ideas! If you were sitting next to me, dark boy then I'd be slicing your head off…!"**

**FD *sighs* "I can't believe this happened to me. Of all people to be stranded with it had to be you two idiots."**

**Zap "Oh yeah…?!"**

**Windy *shakes head as Zap yells more insults at FD and FD counter attacks with smart comments* "Well, you people know the drill. Review. And someone **_**please **_**get me out of here."**

**Note: Strife uploaded the next chapter to his story... actually a few days ago *laughs weakly* I forgot to tell you all about it. So yeah, review and go read that one next.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Flame "I challenge you… to jump off a cliff and belly flop into the ocean!"**

**Katherine "Oh really?! Well then, I challenge **_**you**_** to see who can jump off the skyscraper and still live!"**

**Flame "You're going to cheat. You're a Light Giver."**

**Katherine "That goes both ways, Follower of Darkness."**

***both growl angrily at each other until both notice all of the readers staring***

**Flame "Humph, hi people. I was just arguing with the pointless Light Giver here…"**

**Katherine "Pointless, really, Flame? That can go back to you and you useless Followers of Darkness!"**

**Flame "Useless?! Well then, I'll show you who's useless in a minute…!" *mutters something about Light Givers angrily* "Humph, anyways, thanks goes to the Ohana for reviewing." *glares at Katherine* "Alright, I challenge you to a sword fight!"**

**Katherine *growls while both pull out their swords* "Well then this looks like it'll be a fight to the death again!"**

**Flame "Except the tides are much different this time!"**

**Storm= Haha, I should've updated sooner…! But I didn't just to make it more fun for all of you readers but I'm not sure if it's any better. The cliffhanger's worse than it was in the last chapter! Oh noes… *laughs* anyways, yeah Clive… *shakes head slowly and sighs* You'll see in a minute.  
Katherine "Good job, Kelly! Keep the strength strong! And don't you cry either, Braelyn."**

**Strife= I officially give you a round of applause for doing the Mephiles laugh perfectly *applauds* but you did that during improve? That had to be hilarious to see. I love improving…  
So yeah, Sonic and Hydro were making pancakes. *nods and then laughs* That would've been awesome to see! And yeah Clive, no button pressing.  
Clive "I… apologize I guess…"  
Don't guess. Either you do or you don't apologize.  
Clive "Okay then! Jeez!"**

**Rya= Zap *shakes his head slowly as you lift the pictures proudly*  
Alternative dimensions huh…? How would I write that…? *looks thoughtful* But that would be quite interesting!  
*shrugs* Well, it might get you in trouble but you might not be at the same time!  
Okay, go finish that letter because I was laughing **_**really**_** hard while reading that. And yes, those things are really confusing to understand. That and Soul Emeralds *sighs* three very confusing things.  
*laughs* You sang the disclaimer for real?! Awesome! I tried to make it go along with the song anyways, and that it did. *nods with a proud grin on her face*  
Sonic with a man cave… *falls over laughing and then sits up, wiping away a stray tear* That would be the funniest thing ever if he did. Wonder what'd be inside that place. Anyways, yeah, Hydro still has glimpses of his past self within him. He can't just be an entirely new character…  
Agree with you there! Clive is being quite naïve and with those points it just proves he's making a very grave mistake.  
*applauds at the predictions* Wow, those are all amazingly good.  
Windy *clasps hands thankfully at you* "You have saved my life from a suffering end, thank you!" *snickers* Oh, and Chaos wants to take FD out with you.  
FD "You are a terrible author."  
*waves FD away***

**Chaos= Katherine *face turns red* "Yeah. He's been calling me that all day. And go get Clive. I'm right behind you."  
FD on the battlefield huh…? *looks thoughtful and then nods* That'd be quite interesting sight to see. He does happen to stay in the darkness a lot but he does step out to fight if he sees it necessary. But yes, your way.  
Yes! Your predictions are really good! (And number five made me laugh the hardest because I got the reference). I want to tell you which ones are right and wrong… but that'll ruin the story. I will tell you that one of them is right though.**

**Raeweis= You're back! Anyways, glad you liked the advice and how the chapter turned out! I actually love doing that, changing it around and then changing the mood of the story.  
I hate it when the review button does that… it bugs the crap out of me… *scowls***

**Retto= Ah okay, I'll do that, thanks! And minecraft… reminds me of a friend of mine who constantly plays that game… *shakes head slowly while laughing to self*  
Blackie *looks at the matches* "I don't want to know…"**

**Amicus= *become silent then laughs quietly as you write a bunch of rambling all over the review then waves hi to Squirrel* Wow, that was impressive, Amicus! *picks up a water balloon with a dark grin* Ready to play another round?  
FD "Ahhh! So I'm a favorite now?"  
*throws the water balloon at FD*  
Oh, and I can't believe I wrote something in a future chapter, you'll see! It's that sad part I was telling you about.  
**

**UFO= Yes! You're back! And yes, if Amy finds out he's so screwed… but you don't have to tell her. Something will pop up in the next couple of chapters, you'll see. *grins darkly then become serious* Yes, Clive has gone insane. It's the only logical explanation. Hmm… I say you should help them, but Rya saved them in her helicopter just now *laughs*  
Wow, that sounds like that was an exciting dream! *looks at the spear cautiously* What are you going to do with that…?**

**Disclaimer= (no one objected to the truth or dare thing stopping so yeah... this idea was brought to you by Retto and Amicus!)  
Blackie *sighs* "So what do you guys want to do today?"  
Rya "Can I sing the disclaimer again?"  
Strife "Maybe you shouldn't. It might pop up this time."  
Katherine *walks up with sword on her shoulder* "Hey guys, what's up?"  
Raeweis "We're just waiting for the fourth wall to be fixed."  
Katherine *raises eyebrow* "Can't you guys do something more productive with your lives?"  
Retto *squints then frowns at sword* "Hey Katherine, is there something on your… ah… sword?"  
Katherine *frowns and lifts up sword* "Oh… that's weird. It looks like someone wrote on it with a marker. Probably Xsus again."  
Blackie "And why would you let Xsus use your sword as something to color on?"  
Katherine "He steals it from me, SandHeart."  
Chaos "Here, let me see it."  
Katherine *tosses sword to Chaos, who catches it and looks at it with a frown* "Hmmm… looks like sugar rush kid wrote this: 'Sonic and company belong to SEGA, Strife owns some ideas and shares the character Alena with Blackie, Storm owns Aero, Kelly, and Robyn, and BlackSandHeart owns the Dimension Jumpers'."  
Strife *looks at Rya* "See? It popped up."  
*everyone becomes quiet*  
Amicus *sits up and turns to Blackie* "Should I…?"  
Blackie *pales* "Should you do what?!"  
Amicus *throws a water balloon at the others then runs off laughing*  
Blackie *sits up spluttering* "What in the name of…?!"  
Storm *laughs while pulling out a water balloon* "It is on!"  
Retto "Maybe we shouldn't…!"  
UFO *spits water out of his mouth and pulls out his own water balloon* "Alright, I'm in this too!"  
Rya *grins while pulling one out too* "Maybe we can throw one of these at FD while we're at this!"**

Chapter Ten=

TIME= 07 HOURS 10 MINUTES

AREA= SPACE COLONY ARK

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

"Sir…" Aero asked to Clive as the raccoon sat with his arms folded and dark gaze staring down onto the Earth far below. Clive's blue eyes flickered back for a moment to look at the dark hedgehog before glancing down again onto the Earth. The hedgehog had become most obedient to Clive when the raccoon released him from his chamber within the ARK, following everything Clive asked without question, so far.

"What is it?" Clive growled.

"Well," Aero said, a hint of annoyance was found in his voice and it was obvious he was trying to hide it. His dark eyes stared expressionlessly at Clive, he looked nothing like he did in the future. In this time period, Aero seemed more relaxed and patient. "I was considering the possibility to attack the Earth now. Why are we sitting here and waiting? My men grow tired…"

"Your men? Did you forget who released you from your prison?" Clive hissed.

Aero bit back a growl of frustration. "Sorry _sir_, _your_ men grow tired of waiting."

Clive hissed. "They've waited over fifty years for this day. I doubt any more or less will make much of a difference."

Aero growled to himself under his breath, somehow finding the strength not to kill Clive right here and now.

Suddenly a flash of light appeared on the other end of the room and Clive and Aero glanced over to it as from the flash of light popped out Hydro. Clive could never recall seeing Hydro look so ticked off about something before today. He was biting back a snarl when he saw Aero and without even a thought of hesitation, lifted a hand as the ground rumbled.

"What's this?" Aero growled as he stumbled. "Who's this boy?"

"Your worst nightmare," Hydro barked and he held out his hands hand as water shot up through cracks on the steel flooring and formed into an ice katana into each of his hands. Hydro lifted the swords and spun them in a circle in his hands before holding them up for the two Mobians to see. "Clive you're such an—!"

"Don't even call me that," Clive warned, stopping Hydro before he could swear at him. "It's your entire fault that this is happening…!"

"What_ever_!" Hydro growled. "The entire reason we time traveled into the pass was to _prevent_ this from happening! You've changed the future! FOR THE WORSE!"

"It was never fair of you!" Clive shot back. "You were always friends with the great and powerful Sonic the hedgehog and company but you know what? I never was!"

"Oh what, so you're jealous?"

"Am not!"

"Yes you are, you're jealous because every time when Sonic needed a favor to be done he'd turn to me for help, not you, because he didn't trust you! Now I think I finally understand why!" Hydro said while waving one of the katanas at Clive.

"You have no right to call me that…!"

"I have every right!" Hydro barked back. "You know how horrible it is in the future?! No, of course not, you've only popped up one day because you didn't know how to control your powers so you sped right through time towards our era. You weren't there the day they started destroying the world! You weren't there when Sorro had to watch his parents die! AND you did not have to suffer through the day when the only one left who loved you died!"

Clive lifted his fists angrily. "How _dare_ you!"

"How dare you!" Hydro yelled. "I can't believe I called you a friend, you self centered jerk!"

While this was going on, Aero looked like he was trying not to laugh as he snuck out the doors of the Stargazing room and into the dark hallways of the ARK.

Clive bared his teeth, "Why would I be jealous of a boy who still acts like he's ten?!"

"I do not act like I'm ten!" Hydro said.

Clive grabbed a box that was by the floor not too far away from him, kicked it open, and pulled out a Light Ray. He pointed the thing towards Hydro as the boy lifted his katanas for a counter attack. Clive chuckled. "I brought a bunch of weapons along with me, if you didn't know! Tails nor any of the others saw them when we were time traveling to this time!"

"You really are a jerk." Hydro said flatly and he jumped to the right as Clive fired. The beam of light that shot out of the gun flew forward, barely missing Hydro's ear and burning a good size hole into the wall next to him.

"You cannot win!" Clive hissed.

Hydro lifted a sword. "Then I'll die trying."

"HYDRO!" A voice suddenly cried and the raccoon and cat glanced towards the door as it flew open and their eyes widened in shock.

"Sorro?!" They yelled simultaneously.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Come on, Shadow, we have to save Hydro!" Sonic said to the black hedgehog as the two started running towards Angel Island. Knuckles was still asleep and neither wanted to wake him up with a fist in their face to get the emerald, although Sonic was now starting to think that it might've been worth a punch in the face to save Hydro.

Shadow growled under his breath. "I cannot believe you would wake me up for something like this, Sonic. Can't Xsus handle himself?"

Sonic gave Shadow a look and the ebony hedgehog went silent.

They took a sharp turn around a corner while running at full speed. They saw Angel Island up ahead and Sonic suddenly wondered how long they had been running to reach this spot… but stopped himself. Numbers only meant that Hydro was closer to dying, or was dead by now.

They jumped onto the island and slid to a stop when they found Tikal, Shade, and the water element Chaos standing before the shrine to the Master Emerald. Tikal was holding a red Chaos Emerald in her hands and the look on her face was sincere as Shadow and Sonic slid to a stop in front of them.

"Sonic," Tikal walked up to the blue blur while Shadow rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "We already know what is happening. Hurry up to the ARK before it's too late."

Sonic took the Chaos Emerald from Tikal and grinned, not bothering to ask how she knew about everything yet. The Master Emerald normally showed everything about what was going on for the echidnas. "Don't worry Tikal, we'll go save Hydro before you know it. Keep each other safe, you hear?"

Shade nodded. "It will be an honor like it always is to guard the Master Emerald."

Chaos sighed. _"When do I not guard this place?"_

Sonic chuckled. "Alright, later people, Chaos Control!"

The two vanished in a bright flash of light and Tikal, Shade, and Chaos turned around but froze when they saw a familiar face sitting on the steps of the stairs.

"Sierra…!" Tikal gasped while putting a hand to her mouth.

Sierra opened her icy blue eyes and looked down at them. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at them. "So, what is going on here?" She asked with a smirk.

-XXXXXXX-

"_Sir_, I found this one and a few others running around the ARK." Aero said as he tossed Sorro into the room. The boy crashed onto the ground and slid a few feet before jumping to his feet and spinning around on Aero.

"Aero!" Sorro spat while a hand went into his bag.

"Sorro! What are you doing here?!" Hydro demanded as the boy glanced over at him. "Don't you know it's dangerous here?! Why do you look older?! And heck, how did you even get here?!"

"FD time traveled us," Sorro said with a tone of voice similar to a _duh_. Suddenly, from the doorway a few more deranged ARK experiments came in and threw in Robyn, Kelly, and the girl known as Alena.

Clive blinked in surprise. "What are they doing here?!"

"We're saving the past!" Sorro lifted a fist boldly.

"Like a team should!" Kelly added as she stumbled to her feet. The crew from the future looked at each other silently and Clive suddenly sighed, looking at the ground shamefully.

Then, in a flash of white light, Sonic and Shadow dropped out from the sky. They looked around the room quickly before turning towards Clive. "Clive!" Sonic growled. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Clive glanced over at Sonic in surprise and his ears went flat against his head. "S-Sonic…!"

Shadow crossed his arms and growled. "Humph, I thought you'd look a bit more intimidating."

Hydro lifted his swords as everyone looked at him. "Hang on, hang on people. We might have this all wrong," Hydro turned to Sorro, Kelly, Robyn, and Alena. "So, seriously, how did you guys get here?"

"FD time traveled us!" Sorro said, sounding a bit angered by the comment.

Hydro frowned, looking confused.

"FD has more abilities then you can think, Hydro." Alena explained and Hydro gave her a confused look.

"Who are you…?"

Shadow growled, lifting his fists and interrupting them. "Do not tell me I suffered through a long run with Faker here only to have some things straightened out!"

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked over at Shadow the hedgehog.

"I-I suppose you're right Xsus…" Clive suddenly said.

Hydro glanced over at Clive with the rest of the group as the raccoon continued. "I've made a big mistake. I guess I just wasn't thinking right, I was jealous and it led me to doing the wrong things… I'm sorry. I should've never released those experiments. Can you ever forgive me?"

Hydro shook his head slowly and sighed. "I suppose… I could…"

Suddenly, there was the sound of gunfire and everyone in the room froze in terror. They all looked over slowly at Aero who was holding a smocking Light Ray in his hands and a smirk on his face. "Bang," He simply said and they could all only watch as Clive dropped to his knees, letting out a choking gasp as the light died from his eyes, and fall to the ground, dead.

Everyone else's eyes widened in terror as they looked at Clive as he laid silently on the floor, until Hydro turned to Aero, lifting his swords angrily. "Why you…!"

"Why me? Oh because I truly enjoyed watching the light get sucked out of him." Aero chuckled as he turned to the others. "Now… who's next?"

**Flame "There. I win."**

**Katherine "You call drawing a picture better than me a win?!"**

**Flame "Yes, because you fail miserably at it."**

**Katherine *flames in the back group as she growls angrily* "Why you...!"**

**Me *sighs* "They've been at this for hours now. Anyways, please leave a review and I'll see you when the next chapter comes out! Oh, and a quick note for all of you: Chaos just posted up his first story so you should seriously go read it. He's under the name Chaotic Hedgehog on this website so go find him and read his first story! ...after you leave a review here."**


	11. Chapter 11

**I, BlackSandHeart... am sooo sick of homework. *sighs* if I randomly don't update someday that means that the homework overload became too much for me and I wasn't able to update.**

**Anyways, thanks to the Ohana for reviewing!**

**Strife= You got a point there, but then again, Aero hasn't been fighting for seven+ years.  
You're taking Japanease classes?! That sounds so much more fun than Spanish *sighs*  
Sierra "Humph, and when have I not been a 'Sierra'?"  
True enough, it was only logical that Aero was going to use that gun **_**and**_** kill Clive within one move. Wouldn't expect it to be any different though. Poor, poor Clive, he never saw it coming.**

**Retto= and **_**that**_** is why Aero is on my top list of evil bad guys. FD's up there too along with Mephiles and... uh... I need to make a list. Oh, and you're welcome! I said that I was going to use them!  
I don't know about the question of Aero... Aero does belong to Nomad so you're going to have to ask her that question *laughs*  
Xsus *blinks as his eyes grow big* "Oooo! A water battle...!"**

**Chaos= *laughs* Yep, you were right! And yeah, I could see how reviewing under that name could be weird...  
Anyways, yeah, Aero just shot Clive. Poor, poor raccoon, never saw it coming.  
Katherine "Chaos...? Aero belongs to Storm..."  
Sierra *scowls* "Shut up. Do I look like a mountain to you? No wait, don't answer that because I **_**don't**_**!****"  
Good heavens, yes, I feel your pain about staying up late with PMs, they're way too much fun **_**not**_** to respond to.  
*laughs* Maybe, maybe not but if there was a super Saiyan moment I would laugh so very hard while uploading it for all of you.  
Hydro *blinks and raises an eyebrow* "I can join this **_**team**_** even if I am from the future?"  
My PM just proved two of those predictions haha.  
That's an interesting story idea, but don't forget this is a FanFiction site! We mustn't forget about Sonic and co. *laughs* but that would be hilarious.  
Disclaimer idea= wow that's just random but a funny idea.  
Katherine "I'll come!"  
Zap "Humph, if Dark Boy is going then I won't be attending."  
FD "Well pardon me, Mr. Electricutioner..."  
Zap "Electricutioner, that's not even a word!"**

***face palms* and there they go again. No, I don't think I'll let **_**either**_** of them attend *laughs***

**Storm= Yes. Aero is a jerk like that.  
FD "Aren't I the bigger jerk, according to you, though?"  
Shut it *pulls out scythe and glares at FD then stops to look at you again* Don't worry, it **_**might**_** get better soon for the heroes!  
Katherine *leans to Braelyn* "Oh yes, very mad."  
Oh, note, Raeweis was telling me that there's a chocolate bar that's full of air called Aero. *snickers* does this mean Aero's an airhead?**

**Amicus= I think you are the only one not out for FD and Zap. Although, Rya isn't out for Zap, she's just only out for FD *laughs* but for both? Just you.  
*ducks* Don't you dare point that thing at me!  
Haha, see? I told you it was worse!  
Hydro *spins his katanas with a grin on his face***

**Raeweis= Yeah! Let's hope they can beat them! If not then... well... uh... huh...  
Anyways! *clears throat* ohmigosh, I don't think he knows. That's awesome! Aero's a chocolate bar that's full of air! That's hilarious! *starts laughing***

**Rya= Ah, like Shadow's Gathering... that was a good story. *smiles at the memories* I loved how Espio was the sheriff. Anyways, I suppose that is a way to write that. I should try it again then!  
Sierra "I-I am not! I could send him to another world again easily!"  
Sure you aren't, anyways, yes, you would get quite a response from blowing up a building. You can ask Zap about the responses you can get, he's blown up plenty of them *laughs*  
Zap "It was an accident...!"  
As I read that letter, I laughed at G.U.N. Allowing them to borrow a gun at a fee, and the lava river, and I fell over laughing at the ID idea. However, *nods* all of these ideas are quite smart they'll most likely help the council in the long run! No more Day of the Dead to worry about! But, the part where I almost cried from laughing? This: 'I'm Maraya Prower, and I approve this message *nods*'. I almost died and went to the Council of Death to deliver the letter myself from laughter! That was amazing. We should send it!  
He didn't know what a man cave is?! *sighs* Just sad... So, you would attack him for the fun of it? Yes! I know I'm starting to get to know you guys well!  
Haha, you're welcome!  
Yes, Aero you die, and Sierra? Don't move.  
Sierra "I'm still mad at you. I am not crushing on Sonic!"**

…**.yes you are. Anyways, yeah, since they are in the past they can think of ways to stop Aero and his demon army of ARK projects.  
*Grins as you lift the bat and points to the left* He went that way.**

**UFO= You got a point there. Why are all my chapters ending in cliffhangers...?  
Flame "Why wouldn't you?"  
Touche... anyways, agree with you. Clive didn't deserve a fate like that because he changed, but he really did not see Aero doing that. Poor, poor Clive.  
*applauds as FD struggles to his feet, dripping wet and yelling insults* Now, I am quite impressed! Quick, hit him again!  
Good heavens, that reminds me of school today where we were laughing so hard at pokemon and how the regions just suddenly appeared, how giant pokemon could fit in wild grass that is only a foot or two high, and how your mother used your money to buy you useless things *laughs* Drama class, the weird class of my day.  
Wow, those are, by far, the weirdest dreams I've heard of. And that was the cousin before he was born...? 0_0 I really don't have a comment. That's just... wow... impressive.  
Hydro "Ow! What the heck was that for?!"  
Katherine "You almost swore, and I'm not stopping him."  
Hydro "Thanks, Kathy."  
Katherine "And don't call me that." *scowls*  
Wow, well, better than using the spear on people, right?**

**Disclaimer= (given to you by Chaos... this should be interesting)  
Chaos *walks in with a frown on his face* "Hey guys."  
Rya *looks up and over* "Oh hey, Chaos, what's up?"  
Chaos *scowls* "I got the changing tattoo."  
Storm "You got a what?"  
Chaos "A changing tattoo, it'll fade away eventually but you know... right now it's showing the disclaimer, want to see?"  
Retto "I didn't know tattoos could change..."  
Blackie *grabs Xerius' cowboy hat and pulls it low over her head* "I'm not sure if I do..."  
Amicus "Here, let me see," *takes Chaos' arm and reads disclaimer out loud* "'Sonic and company belong to SEGA...' oh cool it changed colors! Anyways, 'Dimension Jumpers belong to Blackie'... 'Chaos belongs to Chaos, Storm owns Aero, Robyn, and Kelly, and Strife owns some ideas and shares the character Alena with Blackie'. Weird tattoo, Chaos."  
Chaos "I'm just glad it'll fade away eventually. And now it's turning blue..."  
Strife "Where did you get it from?"  
Chaos "Zap..."  
Blackie "Well that explains half of your problems." *laughs* "Don't ever get a tattoo from him."  
Amicus *suddenly stands* "I declare... war!"  
Blackie "No! Not again! Sit down!"  
Amicus *pouts* "Awww! But Blackie...!"  
Raeweis "I can still feel those water balloons hitting me..."  
UFO "**_**That **_**was funny."  
Chaos "And now... it's turning purple."**

Chapter Eleven=

Aero chuckled as he tossed the gun to the side and slowly walked towards the group. As he passed by Robyn, she tensed up like she was preparing a punch and he leaned in close to her face. "You must be the fairest rose in this garden of weeds…" He whispered to her as he lifted a finger and ran it down the side of her cheek. "I'll make you forever mine…"

"Aero!" Hydro barked. "Continue to touch her and I will personally…!"

"Haha! Ima weed!" Sorro cried, interrupting Hydro and causing Aero to take a surprised step backwards away from Robyn. "Take that you suckers!"

Hydro face palmed and shook his head, trying to regain his composure.

"Okay, I'm done now," Sorro said, stuffing his hands into his pockets and glancing at Hydro as he did so.

"As I was saying before I was interrupted," Hydro gave Sorro a hard look. "Aero, you have no right to lay a hand on Robyn, or any of us. You killed Clive and you're going to have to pay for it."

"Oh really?" Aero chuckled.

"Yes really," Hydro suddenly jumped forward and swung both of his ice katanas at Aero, who easily side stepped the attack. Hydro landed on the ground and spun towards Aero while the dark hedgehog easily blended into the darkness around him in the Stargazing room before jumping out of his way as Hydro lunged, stabbing his word deep into the wall.

"Over here…!" Aero chuckled as he bounced behind Shadow. The ebony hedgehog spun around and threw a Chaos Spear at him and Aero merely sidestepped the attack.

"Come on, brother, can't you do better than that?" Aero laughed as Shadow's eyes narrowed.

"Seriously, how many siblings do you have Shadow?!" Sonic demanded to the hedgehog as Aero jumped out of the way of another attack, which was Hydro throwing one of his swords this time.

Shadow shook his head. "I refuse to be related to him."

Sonic chuckled. "You sounded like Sierra there for a moment…"

Sorro pulled at a vial out of his bag. "Hey Aero! CATCH!" He chucked the vial at Aero's feet where it exploded into a pink liquid and Aero slipped and fell like the area at his feet was made out of slippery ice.

"Why you…!" Aero spun onto Sorro as the boy paled. He tackled him and Sorro found himself staring up into Aero's black eyes. They were, in ways, worse than Father Darkness' was in the future. Aero hissed in Sorro's face as he showed him his sharp fangs. "I cannot wait to destroy you!"

"Hydro!" Sorro shrieked.

"Sorro!" Hydro started to run forward to tackle Aero but stopped when a new voice spoke up.

"That's enough,"

Everyone glanced back in surprise to see none other than Xerius standing with his back to the wall and arms crossed. His eyes were narrowed and lying on the ground around him were a few other unconscious and failed ARK projects that must've tried to assist Aero.

"Who are you?" Aero hissed.

"I am Xerius," Xerius said flatly, shocking everyone that he was using his mouth to talk for once. "And I truly cannot wait to kill _you_."

"You dare mock me?" Aero growled as he lifted Sorro by the collar of his shirt as he stood up. Sonic's eyes suddenly widened when he saw Sorro starting to struggle to get out of Aero's death grip as he glanced from Xerius to Sorro. They looked almost exactly the same…

"I said enough!" Xerius unsheathed his claws and jumped forward, slicing at Aero and managing to get a good sized cut on his arm. Aero wailed as he dropped Sorro and Xerius pulled the boy out of the way while Sorro's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

"Dad?!"

Xerius' ears twitched and he glanced back at Sorro in confusion while everyone else in the room stopped and stared.

Aero took this opportunity to jump forward and kick Xerius. The cat flew backwards and crashed into a wall but jumped to his feet like the attack did almost nothing, _"So much for the calm composure, Aero. I've seen better."_ Xerius said telepathically as he stood up.

"Oh really?!" Aero tackled Xerius and threw a few punches at him while Sorro stumbled to his feet.

"Stop it!"

Aero and Xerius froze, both of them had their fists raised to knock the lights out of the other permanently. They both turned their gaze onto Sorro as the boy pulled out a glass vial out of his pocket. "I'm not watching… Xerius… die again! Now get off of him!" Sorro threw the bottle at the ground and a swarm of bees erupted from it and flew towards Aero.

Aero eyes widened as he scrambled off of Xerius to get out of the way of the wrath of the angry bees while Xerius climbed to his feet slowly, giving Sorro a suspicious look.

As the two stared at each other, Aero stumbled backward and lifted a hand, starting to blast all the pursuing bees to tiny bits with a blast of dark energy.

_"What's your name?"_

"Sorro,"

_"Sorro…?"_ Xerius frowned and then shook his head.

Hydro jumped forward. "Sorro! Get out of here while you have the chance!"

"I'm sick of running!" Sorro called back. "I'm not going anywhere!"

Shadow glanced at the others. "We need to go, if we stay here for long we're going to tear the ARK apart from the inside or we could all be killed."

"But…! Aero…!" Sorro started to complain but stopped when he noticed Xerius giving him a hard look.

Sonic pulled out the red Chaos Emerald. "Anyone feel like Chaos Controlling everyone out of here…?"

Alena stepped forward and everyone turned to her in surprise. "I do, let me see the emerald."

"Who are you?" Shadow asked as Sonic handed her the emerald.

"My name's Alena," Alena said softly. "I'm from the future and came back in time to make things right again, Chaos Control!"

"No!" Aero roared but it was too late, everyone disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Aero by himself on the Space Colony ARK with no one but his fellow experiments. Aero growled then pulled out a communicator from his quills and pressed a button on it. After a moment, he found himself face to face with a misshapen black panther. "Project Night, gather your projects! We're heading down to Earth."

-XXXXXXX-

Sonic and everyone else that was on the ARK appeared while the others were having breakfast. Which of course, just made the room go dead silent for a moment.

Katherine hopped off her stool and ran up to Shadow. "You're okay! Thank the Light Givers…!" She gave Shadow a tight hug and completely missed the cold stare Alena was giving her while Chaos jumped forward to join in.

"Oh cool!" Xsus said excitedly as he jumped off of his stool and ran up to Sorro. "You look just about my age! What's your name?"

Sorro's face was priceless and he glanced up at Hydro then looked at Xsus… then back up at Hydro in shock. After a moment, he looked at Xsus suspiciously. "I'm Sorro…"

"Sorro huh? That's a cool name! My name's Xsus!" Xsus said happily and Sorro couldn't help but be flabbergasted. This was Hydro's past self? Who knew that Hydro used to have, what seemed to be, unlimited energy.

Robyn shrieked with joy when she saw her younger brother, Tails, not too far away. "Tails!"

Tails blinked and then his eyes started to water when he recognized who the girl was. "R-Robyn…?!"

The two jumped at each other and gave each other a big hug while the others chuckled quietly to each other. Sonic waved a hand at Robyn. "So, Tails, who's this?"

"This is my big sister," Tails said with a grin as he stepped away from Robyn's embrace. "And I thought she was gone forever…!"

Everyone stared at Tails in shock. "I thought you were an only child, Tails," Cosmo said as she looked at Tails.

Tails rubbed the back of his head and laughed quietly. "Uh, no, not exactly. I just don't like talking about my family because I thought they were all dead."

Everyone became quiet as they slowly absorbed the new information as Hydro turned to Kelly and Robyn. "So, explain to me this, how was FD able to transport you all into the past?"

Robyn shook her head. "I'm not entirely sure, he just did it. You know how Father Darkness is though, he never explains himself."

"True enough," Hydro frowned and completely missed Xsus sneaking into his pocket and pulling out a small box made of ice. Xsus frowned and glanced over at Xerius, who was too busy giving Sorro a weird look to notice Xsus fooling around again. "So, who are you?" Hydro asked as he pointed a finger at Alena.

"I'm Alena," Alena explained. "I was found not too long after you and Clive went time traveling into the past. I was founded in an abandoned village. Shadow taught me everything I know about fighting. If it wasn't for him I'd be dead now. I've been helping out the resistance ever since then."

Shadow blinked slowly and then put on his normal serious face when everyone looked at him.

Hydro nodded and then sighed. "Well, I think we got everything straightened out. Everyone, this is Robyn and Kelly, they've been my friends for years so you can trust them. Alena… I just met obviously… but you seem to be a pretty good person."

Alena's face turned red. "Oh… thank you…"

"And, this here is Sorro," Hydro put a hand on Sorro's head and Sorro glanced up at Hydro. "He's a good kid but he'll pull a few pranks when you're not looking."

Sorro laughed. "Will not!"

"Will too," Hydro chuckled and then he looked at the TV seriously. "Either way, enough with this. The next place we need to go to soon is Angel Island so we can get the Master Emerald and keep it safe so we don't lose the Chaos Emeralds."

"What about Clive, Hydro?" Sorro asked.

"Dead, there's no way we can bring him back if his body's being guarded by hundreds of ARK experiments." Hydro said sadly, "He's gone."

The ones from the future looked at the ground sadly as Hydro sighed. "Alright, I'm going to turn it in. The rest of you let me know if Aero appears on the TV screen, Sorro?"

"Yes Hydro?"

"No pranks."

"Awww! What?!"

"Goodnight," Hydro muttered as he walked up the stairs towards the rooms upstairs while the rest looked at each other with interested looks on their faces.

"Now what?" Rouge asked, putting a hand on her hip.

Sorro opened his mouth to say something but closed it when he noticed Xerius giving him a dead serious look.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Um… Hydro?" A voice asked and Hydro stopped before his door and sighed. He glanced back, ready to tell Sorro to head back downstairs but stopped when he saw it was himself.

"Uh… hello… me," Hydro swallowed.

Xsus rubbed the back of his head and both future and present selves looked away from the other nervously, like this was going to be an extremely awkward conversation until Xsus pulled the ice box out of his back pocket. "What's this?"

Hydro's face turned red and he looked like he was going to get angry but stopped himself. He took a deep breath and held out a hand towards the ten-year-old boy before him. Xsus glanced at the hand and put the box into the hand while looked up at Hydro. After a moment, Hydro opened the box and bent down so Xsus could see what was inside.

Xsus' eyes widened when he saw that there was a ring inside of it, an engagement ring that seemed to be glowing with its own kind of light. Xsus glanced at Hydro in surprise and swallowed. After a moment, he spoke up, "Are you going to get married?"

"I was," Hydro said dryly. "Then she died."

"To who?"

Hydro chuckled, "The perfect girl in my world. She was always there for me, when I'd wake up in the morning she'd be singing same kind of song to wake me up to even the times when I was ready to give up. You'll see who I'm talking about when you turn sixteen."

"But I don't want to grow up." Xsus pouted.

Hydro smiled and ruffled up the fur on top of Xsus' head. "Don't worry about it, Xsus. Just go where your heart wants for you to go. You don't ever have to grow up."

Xsus glanced at Hydro. "Really?"

"Really, now go head back downstairs, I bet the others are looking for you by now."

"Yes sir!" Xsus saluted Hydro and then ran towards the stairs while Hydro watched him go. He stood up and looked at the ring inside the box before dumping it into his hand and lifting it so the light could see. The light made the ring glow as he laughed quietly to himself. "If only you could see what is happening to me now…" He whispered to the ring. "I hope I can save the future and bring you back…"

With that, Hydro dropped the ring into the box again and snapped the lid close. He tucked the box back into his pocket and opened the door to his room. As he walked in, he glanced at the one possession he brought with him from the future on the nearby dresser.

The picture was taken a few years ago and Hydro picked it up as he sat down on the edge of his bed with a faint smile on his face. It was a picture of himself and Cream. Cream had the happiest look on her face as she had her arms around Hydro's neck and Hydro was laughing at a joke Sonic had told him while the picture was taken as he had a hand around Cream's waist to pull her closer to himself. He placed the picture back on the dresser and laid on his bed, closing his eyes.

"Goodnight, Cream…" He muttered to the darkness before falling asleep.

**There, see? I don't always cliffhanger my chapters...**

**Flame "And now let's see the next chapter... is that a... ah yes, it's a cliffhanger."**

**Me "Shut it you."**

**Flame *shrugs and walks away***

**Me "Well, you get the idea, leave a review and I'll see you all when the next chapter comes around! Adios! Also! Chaos uploaded another chapter to his story and Rya put up her first Sonic FanFiction called Rouge! Go read both of them and review! They are both amazing chapters...!"**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sierra "Come here SandHeart and I'll show you a thing or two about us Followers of Darkness!"**

**Me *grabs sister's compound bow and lifts it up for Sierra to see while notching an arrow* "One step closer, Sierra, and I will **_**blast**_** your head off with this arrow!"**

**Sierra *lifts sword angrily***

**Windy *sighs* "Well, hello readers, see what happens when you get into a fight with your bad OCs? Don't worry, it'll end soon, hopefully. Thanks to the Ohana for reviewing."**

**Chaos= Pssh, I won't be taking that away.  
Sierra "You better not break me! Or else I will personally make your world a living...!"  
Swear, and I'll send Katherine after you.  
Sierra "Humph!"  
Anyways, *laughs* glad you liked the disclaimer even if it was changed around a little bit haha. It was a lot of fun to write, although it's a first for me of doing anything like that haha.  
FD *smirks while standing* "Your challenge has been accepted Chaos."  
Sorro "Haha! Yeah! I'm apparently amazing! Maybe I should show you the confetti bottle."  
Hydro "No...! Not the confetti bottle! Put that away. And sweet, I'm part of the team."  
Sorro *pouts*  
Xerius **_**"Yes. Yes I did."**_**  
Katherine *laughs* "Chaos, when we get in this fight, we'll blow up all the experiments with Shadow."  
Zap *ducks as a water balloon is thrown at him* "Hey...!"**

**Storm= One too many tomatoes this morning, eh? *laughs* Well, I hope you feel better soon.  
Don't worry Braelyn, I won't hit you with my scythe. I'll only hit FD with it.  
Katherine *laughs* "You two make great siblings."**

**Amicus= Zap "Why thank you, I do happen to be the first and the best."  
FD "Humph, just because I was third..."  
Windy "You know in a weird technical way, I was first you two."  
Zap "Objection!"  
Windy "DENIED!"  
*face palms* Uh, anyways, I love that song! But I think you already know that... and yes. Aero should die. Yeah, poor Xsus, I feel bad for him every time I think of the cause of Cream's death... *looks sad for a moment and then forces a smile* Anyways! Moving on! Yes, Shadow does have a weird family, minus Katherine and Chaos, haha. And yeah, when it finally clicks for Xerius, it's going to be **_**quite**_ **funny...**

**Raeweis= Agreed! Celebration!  
Sorro *runs up* "Can I use the confetti bottle?"  
No! Do not use the confetti bottle, save it for later, Sorro *laughs* and yes! You admitted being part of the Ohana! Good job Raeweis! *grins*  
Ohmigosh, yes. Shadow, Katherine, Chaos, and Aero have a lot of family members if we do this via experiment *laughs***

**Retto= Nope wouldn't mind! Xsus, you know how to play, right?  
Xsus "One normal type move? All I got is water, a bit of air, and barely ice!"  
Just use those then, but only one normal type move like punching or kicking.  
Xsus "Oooooh! Okay!" *skips to the other side of the battle field and lifts his small fists*  
You know, Retto, if Xsus loses, Xerius or Hydro might step in to fight, right?  
Zap "Nope. It could explode but Chaos insisted."**

**Strife= *laughs* well, glad to see you liked it all! And yes, I have more parts with Sorro and Xerius in the future of the story... that should make it more fun.**

**UFO= I know, I know, I kept you all hanging for too long. And yeah, your bad guys can't be invincible, if they are then how can the bad guys be stopped? There would be no point to write the story! Lol, the majority of my life would be my music too and writing. I see what you mean haha. The other half would be family, friends, and that's about it that I can currently think of.  
Lol, I guess this means Aero's a candy bar! That made me laugh so hard when Raeweis said that. I was like: he **_**is**_**?!  
*grins* Sweet, thanks! Hey Zap, FD! *shoots the cannon and both immortals duck to avoid the water balloons* Anyways, *looks at you* you had a dream about that? Seriously? That is so flipping awesome! Too bad no one was there... maybe you'll have another one and will have an argument with Zap or something *laughs* That'd be a sight!  
A four-wheeler?! That's so cool...!**

**Rya= *whispers as Sierra glares* I agree! She has so much pride though that she won't admit it yet. But when she does...! Amy's going to kill her! And it is quite a cute relationship, especially when both of their faces turn red and then they object.  
Sierra *blushes but manages to keep a glare* "I hear you two!"  
Then don't listen! Lol, don't worry about it! I don't think I'd have the heart to blow up a building, unless it was worst case scenarios. Then I'd blow a building up.  
*laughs* Maybe Maria does! Here, let's go find her, I'm sure she knows some way to the Council of Death without dying.  
Lol, ohmigosh! You're right! They are like doubles of each other but at the same time they're not...! I never caught on to that one... wowa... but yeah! I like writing about both of them too!  
I know! Shadow...?  
Shadow "I refuse to be related to any of them."  
Katherine "Thanks Shadow."  
Chaos "Some brother you are."  
Katherine "See? Exactly!"  
Shadow "And I'm not touching anymore buttons. I've learned my lesson"**

**DISCLAIMER= ****Blackie *walks in carrying a book* "So, who wanted to go to the library again today?"  
UFO "I just wanted to check out the biggest library in the universe to see if it was as similar as it was in my dream... they do look really similar!"  
Amicus "You had a dream about this place?"  
UFO "Yeah! ...but nobody was there."  
Rya "Not even FD?"  
UFO "Not even FD."  
Blackie "Let's just hope FD isn't here. The last thing we want is him creepily reading books in the dark again."  
Strife "And when would he not be doing that?"  
Blackie "Touche..."  
Chaos *lifts a book and blows the dust off it then laughs* "Hey guys! Check it out! It's my fanfic!"  
Raeweis *looks at the book* "Wow, they weren't kidding about every book being in here. Where's mine?"  
Retto "It'd be interesting to see my fanfic in here."  
Storm "I want to look now! Where did you find that, Chaos?"  
Chaos *waves a hand down a nearby aisle* "Over there!" *opens book to the first page* "And here's the disclaimer, on the first page. Of course. 'Sonic and company belong to SEGA, Dimension Jumpers belong to Blackie, Chaos belong to...' heh, me, 'Storm owns Aero, Kelly, and Robyn, and Strife owns some ideas along with sharing the character Alena with Blackie.' Well, that's that!" *turns it to the next page to see what's on it as others gather around***

Chapter Twelve=

TIME= 11 HOURS 50 MINUTES

AREA= SONIC'S HOUSE

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

Everyone was edgy the next day, keeping a careful eye on the news and prepared for anything bad to happen. Sonic along with a few others planned to leave after lunch to head to Angel Island and pick up the Master Emerald since it was one of the places Aero went after first.

"Alright people, we're leaving…!" Sonic called and everyone looked back at him from the couch at the group going with the blue blur. The crew going contained the Mobians: Espio, Robyn, Shadow, Knuckles, and Rouge.

"Take care!" Maria called as she jumped off of the table to watch them go. "Be safe and keep an eye out for Aero or other experiments!"

"Humph, any experiment that takes a step to close to me better be dead." Shadow grumbled.

Chaos chuckled, "Don't do anything stupid."

Katherine scowled at Chaos, "Hey! That was my line!"

Rouge glanced over at Xerius, who was standing silently by the wall and watching the group getting ready to leave. "You better take me out on another date when I get back, Xie!" Rouge called to the silent warrior.

Xerius' face turned red as he nodded.

Sorro giggled while he sat on the other side of the room with Charmy, Xsus, and Cream.

"Well, we're out of here! See you later!" Sonic called as he opened the front door on the other side of the room and walked outside into the cold air with the rest of his team following him. As Espio closed the door behind him Sonic glanced at Shadow. "Shadow? Could you do the honors?"

Shadow nodded and lifted the red Chaos Emerald. "Chaos Control!"

The group disappeared in a flash of light.

-XXXXXXXX-

Sierra sighed as she leaned against the Master Emerald. She glanced down at Tikal and Shade who were silently sitting at the bottom steps leading up to the shrine of the Master Emerald. Sierra looked at her reflection in her midnight black sword, looking away from Shade and Tikal. She ran a hand up along the edge of the blade, enjoying the sharp feeling of adrenaline it brought to her.

After a moment, she moved her sword away from her face and looked at Tikal and Shade again. "How much longer do we have to wait? Is this what you do every day? Sit here and wait for something interesting to happen?"

Tikal turned to Sierra. "Patience, Sierra. You'll see soon."

Sierra muttered something about patience being a waste of time when she suddenly perked her ears. She heard the sound of something flying through the air, similar to the sound of an airplane. But who would be flying their airplane around here…?

Sierra stood up and lifted her fists. "Someone's coming…!"

Shade sighed and glanced at Tikal. "Must we deal with her?"

Tikal nodded. "If she does not help then we will die today."

Shade nodded her head too and then looked to the skies to see hundreds of creatures flying towards the island. Chaos the water element appeared out of a nearby puddle and looked to the skies. _"It appears that they are on their way. I do not think help will be coming to us soon." _He told the two echidnas.

Tikal nodded. "Very well, then we shall fight to the death."

Sierra smirked as she put a hand on her hip on top of the shrine her other hand was holding her black sword tightly. "A fight to the death, huh? Oh, this sounds like my type of fight."

The first of the experiments landed on the ground, revealing itself to be none other than Aero. The black hedgehog with green stripes in his quills looked up at the crew before him angrily. "I demand for the Master Emerald to be handed to me."

"In your dreams, Aero!" Sierra called before Shade and Tikal could even open their mouths.

Aero glanced up at the black cat on the shrine. "Have we met…?"

"I hope not, you're not exactly a walking model." Sierra smirked, although she suddenly frowned to herself. That sounded something like her old, dead friend Flame would say…

Aero rolled his eyes. "I do not have time to deal with you, any of you for that matter. Either move and let me have the emerald or be destroyed."

Tikal, Shade, Chaos, and Sierra held their ground, not even moving an inch.

"Very well, Tiane!" Aero called and from the depths of the crowd came a tall bat came forward. She put her hands on her hip while opening her large bat wings.

"Yes, my lord?" Tiane asked Aero.

Sierra scowled. _She looks like she's walked through the horror section in the department of makeovers._ She thought as she looked at Tiane's makeup that covered her entire face and fat lips.

"Dispose of these fools," Aero waved a hand to the group before him.

Tiane turned towards Tikal, Shade, and Chaos and bared her sharp teeth, hissing ever so slightly and lifting her hands up as her bat wings shot out into the air behind her, making them look like a shadow of death. She slowly walked towards them and Sierra sighed, rolling her eyes as she put away her sword. This bat was already annoying.

In a flash of dark light, Sierra appeared in front of Tiane, scaring half the experiments as she lifted her leg in the symbol similar to an offender playing soccer and kicking the ball into the goal. She smashed her foot into Tiane's stomach and watched as the bat spiraled up high into the air from the power of the kick. The bat crashed into the ground a moment later next to Aero as the crew stared at the Follower of Darkness as she crossed her arms.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sierra smirked. "Did I just kick you?"

Tiane struggled to her feet and hissed at Sierra. "How… dare you…!"

"You don't look so well, bat, maybe you should head to the hospital. Why? Oh because I can do _this_ too!" As the cat said 'this' she jumped forward and threw a punch into the side of Tiane's jaw and the bat flew into the crowd behind her.

Sierra flicked her tail as Aero glared at the cat. "You have proven a point to me, cat. What is your name?"

"I'm called Sierra," Sierra said with a shrug. "And while I tell you this, I am the ruler of this dimension."

"You are not!" Shade called from behind her.

Sierra rolled her eyes while jerking a finger back at Shade. "Ignore her; she just doesn't know it yet."

Aero's eyes narrowed. "You cannot possibly rule the world. You are much to bold to do so…"

Sierra shrugged. "Well you're going to have to see why later. Now scat, I'm currently guarding the emerald and if my demonstration on the prissy bat over there wasn't enough for you people I would gladly do it again to you, Mr. Green Stripes." With that, Sierra made a shooing motion towards the hedgehog and the other experiments.

Aero blinked, like he couldn't believe he was getting insulted so easily by this cat. However, he gained his composure quickly and bared his fangs. "Very well, try your worse, Sierra ruler of this world!"

"Much better…!" Sierra gave Aero a dark smile as Aero's eyes narrowed. Both jumped at each other and started fist fighting with both of them easily dodging the others blow, making this fight not go anywhere quickly.

Suddenly, a flash of bright light appeared and everyone looked over in surprise to see Sonic the hedgehog and the group of fighters he had brought along with him. Sierra jumped back from Aero as he swung another punch at nothing and put a hand on her hip. "Humph! You finally showed up!"

Robyn gave Sierra a suspicious look before charging at Aero. "Aero…!" She yelled as she charged at him and Espio and Shadow booked it for the Master Emerald on top of the shrine while Aero lifted a fist.

"Attack!" He roared and all the experiments charged forward.

Sonic jumped forward next to Sierra and lifted his fists as the projects charged. "Do I always have to save you from unexpected endings?" He asked her.

Sierra shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. Since when have my endings become unexpected?"

Knuckles lifted his fist, "Alright you two, not now… here they come!"

Sierra flicked her wrist as her sword appeared in her hands. She lifted it up with a confident smirk on her face as she saw the bat known as Tiane charging through the crowd.

Then, forces collided and everyone's mind went into automatic: attack, dodge, counterattack, and repeat. Sonic found himself keeping a wary eye out for Sierra as the cat sliced and hacked her way through the ARK experiments. There had to be hundreds of them, some were robotic, some were misshapen, and others looked just plain scary.

Behind him, Shadow and Espio jumped up the final stairs up to the Master Emerald and gave the emerald a serious look. Shadow turned to Espio. "We need to get this to Sonic's home. The others will know what to do with it when we get it there."

Espio nodded. "Let's use Chaos Control, it'll be faster and we'll have a better chance of getting out of…"

Aero suddenly appeared out of thin air and punched Shadow in the face. The black hedgehog took a stumbled step back and went down quickly while the hedgehog turned towards Espio, showing his sharp fangs and hissing. "You're next…!"

"Not today!" Another voice called out and Aero didn't have the chance to look over and see Rouge fly by and kick him in the face, sending Aero sprawling onto the ground. Except, the hedgehog jumped to his feet like the attack did nothing and lunged at Rouge, who was yanked out of the way last minute by Robyn, who had seemed to appear out of thin air.

"Careful!" Robyn said to Rouge as Aero slid to a stop not too far away.

Espio glanced at the Master Emerald then looked at Aero as he turned onto them once again. Shadow stumbled to his feet and lifted his fists angrily. "You dare to punch me…?!"

Aero laughed evilly. "I can punch you easily, Shadow!"

Shadow jumped at Aero and the two started throwing random punches at each other. Robyn, Espio, and Rouge looked around and all let out startled yelps when they saw ARK experiments climbing up the sides of the shrine, making the image for the group look very similar to that of a zombie apocalypse.

"Well!" Rouge said to the others. "Talk about unexpected! Those ARK experiments are climbing up the walls like it's nothing!"

Espio growled. "They're going after the Master Emerald. We must do our best to guard it until someone who can use Chaos Control comes by."

Robyn nodded and glanced around. "Where's Sonic?"

Rouge shrugged as she watched a misshapen badger climb over the wall. "Don't worry about big blue for now he'll be fine, just keep an eye out for the experiments!"

One of the experiments suddenly jumped forward, ready to slice Robyn into tiny bits when suddenly, in a flash of blue light, Sonic shot forward and knocked the experiment out of the way. He showed the others his signature grin and thumbs up. "Who knew Gerald had all this spare time to make some many experiments!" Sonic said to them.

Espio shook his head. "Now is not the time to wonder how Gerald did that, we have to get out of here, now."

Sonic nodded as he ran up to the Master Emerald, followed by a few others. The blue blur put his hands on the Master Emerald and concentrated while closing his eyes. "Chaos…!"

The bat known as Tiane charged forward and in a flash of dark light, Sierra appeared and kicked the bat out of the way. "My bad," Sierra smirked as the bat crashed into one of the stone columns surrounding the shrine.

"…Control!" Sonic yelled and the crew disappeared in a flash of light.

Aero growled angrily as soon as they were gone, throwing his punch that was going to knock the lights out of Shadow into thin air. As soon as the fist stopped flying, he turned his dark eyes towards the spot where the emerald stood and he then hissed angrily.

"My lord," The badger that had climbed up the wall with the others started to say. His voice sounded similar to a robot's and was completely monotone. "I'm afraid to report that they have…"

Aero snapped and the badger exploded in a flash of darkness, not being able to finish his sentence. He glared at the other experiments around him and hissed as they all looked terrified. "Keep this in mind, do not be afraid to report anything and _do not_ ever fail."

-XXXXXXX-

_Ten minutes earlier at Sonic's home…_

Hydro sighed as he paced back and forth, waiting for Sonic and the others to return. He knew they could do it, but he wasn't sure if they were going to be able to save the Master Emerald while they were at it.

He wasn't the only one in Sonic's personal training room, which contained nothing but a large track on the other end of the room. Xerius stood silently across from him along with Alena, Kelly, and Amy Rose. Although, the longer she stood in the room, the longer Amy regretted following the group into the room.

Future Xsus growled under his breath as he moved back and forth, he had taken a shower recently and the fur that acted like hair was still dripping. As droplets of water fell from his head, they froze on the ground instantly but he didn't seem to notice, or care at the moment.

"What I don't understand," Hydro said after a moment of silence. "Is why Clive would do such a stupid thing…!"

"Well," Kelly said with a sigh. "He was always jealous of our relationship with Sonic. He never got to know him in what Sonic calls: 'the good old days'. So the fact that you went to see him and didn't look for him first must've upset him."

Xerius nodded as he leaned against a nearby wall and had his arms crossed. _"Perhaps he was also convinced by darkness to do such an act."_

"But who would've caused him to do that?" Amy wondered aloud.

"Father Darkness," Alena offered. "He might be on our side in the future but that doesn't mean he was always a good person."

Hydro nodded as he spun around again, heading in the opposite direction he was going at at first once more. "That could be the cause of this, I could see Father Darkness nudging Clive in the direction to go against us but when could he have talked to him?"

_"Darkness is always silent when it attacks,"_ Xerius muttered.

Kelly nodded as she waved a hand at Xerius. "He's right, maybe Father Darkness didn't say anything, maybe he just put the dark thoughts into his head."

Hydro sighed as he stopped, putting his hands in his pockets. "Maybe, that sounds more like something he did. I suppose that's the only conclusion we can come down to since Clive is dead now and will probably stay that way until the future's changed… and I suppose while I'm thinking about this when the future changes Kelly, Alena, and I will be dead too..."

Amy shook her head while waving a hand. "Okay, I'm done. You guys are way too depressing for me!" With that, she left the room by opening the metal door that led out into the hallway. As she closed it behind her, she left it open a crack and walked down the hallway sighing to herself and muttering something about the future.

Hydro shook his head as soon as she was gone. "Some people just don't understand the true horrors of war… it seems so hopeless to be fighting sometimes."

Alena and Kelly looked down at the ground, seeming to get an idea of what Hydro was talking about and understanding him.

_"You mustn't give up hope,"_ Xerius uncrossed his arms and waved a hand in Hydro's direction. _"Giving up hope is the first step to losing a war."_

Outside the door, a figure dropped down and then was followed by another. Both figures glanced back and waved a hand, allowing three others to join the group. All of them turned their ears towards the crack of the door Amy forgot to close all the way to listen.

"Still," Alena spoke up. "I see what Hydro means. So many years of hopeless fighting, it seems like that is going to change into this timeline too. Some things of the future might be changing now, but for the worse, perhaps."

Hydro nodded and then sighed, "See Xerius? Sometimes I wonder what the point of going on is. We might've just screwed up this time period as well, those of us from the future might've made things worse for the people of the past to deal with."

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps came running down the hallway and the figures outside the door ducked out and into the shadows to not be seen as Chaos the hedgehog threw open the door and looked inside. "Hey guys, they're back!"

Hydro's ears perked up, "Already? Well, that's convenient."

"Do they have the Master Emerald with them?" Alena asked hopefully.

Chaos nodded, "Yeah, come and see it for yourself!"

The team inside the training room ran out of the room and followed Chaos as he led the way down the hallway. The figures that were standing in the doorway ducked out and into the light as they watched them run out of sight. One of the figures, Xsus, turned to the others that had accompanied him.

"They're ready to give up the fight…!" Xsus said sadly.

"But that won't do much good at all," Cream, another one of the figures, said sadly. "That will mean that the evil Aero and the other experiments will win!"

Xsus lifted a fist angrily as Cheese, Charmy, and Sorro revealed themselves as the rest of the figures hiding in the shadows. "Well then, it looks like we're going to have to change that!"

**Windy *glances over at Blackie and Sierra staring each other down before sighing* "And here we are going on hour three. Anyways, thanks for taking the time out of your day to read that chapter. I hope to see you again soon and here's some info about some other great stories you should read: Space Colony ARK, Chaos posted chapter three so if you haven't read that go and read it."**

**And before I go, I take this moment to be give out a tribute to the Americans who died today eleven years ago, 9/11. May their souls forever rest in peace.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Wow, time passes by so quickly *looks thoughtful* To think that four months ago, I didn't have an account on here. And sadder, to think that four months ago, I wasn't writing stories as much as I do now. I forgot the joy of writing then. How sad is that? Hmmm…  
Anyways, thanks goes to my Ohana for reviewing!**

**Chaos= Little bro! *messes up your hair* Sorry, it couldn't be helped…  
Sierra *dripping wet and glares at you* "Humph! If only you know what my past contained of fool."  
You know, Sierra. He might've had a worse one than you.  
Sierra *crosses arms and walks away*  
Windy "And that ends the argument." *nods*  
Anyways, *wipes invisible dust off of hands* that got rid of her.  
FD *smirks* "You tell me? What do you think I'm going to do? Keep in mind I **_**do**_** happen to be a Follower of Darkness."**

**Strife= Wow, did you make that yourself? That was quite a good quote...  
*laughs* It's quite fun to put Flame's name in here every now and again since she did make a major change in Sierra's life along with Terios.**

**Rya= *whispers* Truthfully, I think Amy would cry, run off, and then later come back and swat the lights out of Sonic and Sierra.  
That's about right, Hydro did what Xerius did, took over and kept an eye out for the younger one (in this case, Sorro).  
Shadow "Do not mock me! I'm the Ultimate Life Form!"  
Chaos "And I'm the Original Life Form!"  
Katherine *face palms* "I don't know either of you...!"  
Well, Tiane's lips aren't THAT big, if they were then by the Light Givers, that explains why she's labled a failed experiment.  
Sierra "No, no it doesn't. And I savored the moment very well. I cannot believe Airhead fell for it."  
Why not? *laughs* But truthfully, think about it, who knows how long Gerald was working on creating Shadow? Years? Decades? He had to have time making a lot of these.  
**

**Storm= Yeah, Hydro's ready to give up… in a sad way.  
Katherine "To Robyn of course…!" *rolls her eyes*  
To your question, of course! I just have to read your story again soon so I can write it up right without forgetting the little things *laughs*.**

**Raeweis= You and me both, friend! I hope they stop Aero too soon… *suddenly starts laughing* and that was hilarious! Storm was telling me that she laughed so hard when she read that you put it up, it was awesome! "And I'm a airhead"…that was amazingly hilarious.  
*laughs again* And I think that is the **_**only**_** good thing that's happening in that situation! Haha!**

**Retto= Eh, it's a protective streak. But I think they'll be good since it's a friendly match. RIGHT? *glances back angrily*  
Hydro "Uh… don't look at me! I'm not involved!"  
Xerius "….."  
Humph! Well, then, ready Xsus?  
Xsus "Oh! Okay! I'll use some air, since I'm not good at ice!" *lifts his fists and gets into a defensive position* "Ready…? And…!" *lifts hands as water appears out of thin air and conjures it to be a water whip and flings it at you***

**Amicus= Don't worry, you'll see it soon…! Wait, that might not be a good thing but **_**anyways**_**… yeah, that's why I love Sierra. We're doing this project thing in drama and had to use a real play to make a director's script. But anyways, there's a part of the project where we have to use characters from books or real life to play a part in the play and my team got the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (who knew it could be a play?) and I nominated Sierra to be the white witch. *grins* but anyways, glad you liked it!**

**UFO= *thoughtful look* Hmmm… wonder why you have these dreams with no one else in them…? And I get your drift, none of my dreams do that either. In fact, all that they've been lately is nightmares. Anyways, 'bout your question… don't forget that there are a bunch of people from the past that are there helping out, looks like the future's already changing…  
Sierra "It will not happen."  
Sonic "Uh… yeah. What she said."  
*rolls her eyes* Anyways… she got married? Congrats! But wait… she still doesn't know about your other long distance, ohana related sister. *laughs*  
Zap "Challenge accepted."  
*face palms*  
Sierra *rubs her cheek and scowls as you run off* "Talk about unexpected."**

**Disclaimer= Blackie *rubs hands together frantically* "I always wondered that if you rubbed your hands fast enough, you could actually have fire shoot out of your fingertips."  
Strife "I don't think it's possible."  
Chaos "Faster! Faster!"  
Blackie *laughs and tries to move her hands faster*  
Raeweis *glances around the forest they're in* "So, how did we get in here anyways?"  
Rya "We followed advice from the chipmunk."  
Storm "Which I **_**still**_** can't believe happened."  
Amicus "At least he gave us the disclaimer." *lifts it up and it's written on a piece of wood. Everyone reads this: 'Sonic and co belong to SEGA, Chaos belongs to Chaos, Blackie owns the Dimension Jumpers, Storm owns Robyn, Kelly, and Aero, and Strife owns some ideas and shares the character Alena with Blackie.'*  
Retto "Well, what should we do with that piece of wood?"  
Rya "We should burn it!"  
Blackie "Where are we going to get the fire from?"  
Rya "Rub your hands together faster, Blackie! You can get us our fire!"  
UFO "That's just crazy! Here, I want to try…!" *starts rubbing his hands together too***

Chapter Thirteen=

TIME= 22 HOURS 50 MINUTES

AREA= SONIC'S HOUSE

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

The crew had spent the remainder of the day putting the Master Emerald in a safe place near the basement. Sonic, Rouge, Sierra, Espio, Shadow, Tikal, Knuckles, and Robyn, who had gone to get the emerald, were now all in bed sleeping off the hard fight they had suffered through along with almost everyone else.

Vector, Xerius, Tails, and Shade however were staying up for the remainder of the night in case Aero or one of his projects miraculously found the house. The TV was on and almost all were distracted by the flashing lights from the screen.

"I can't believe it," Vector muttered as he glared at the news people on the screen. "Those creepy experiments took over all of Central City in a matter of hours! That's where my detective agency runs the show!"

"Calm down, Vector," Tails said reassuringly. "I'm sure we'll stop those experiments soon and get your agency back!"

Shade sighed as she stood next to Xerius by the door, both were leaning against the wall with their arms crossed. Shade had refused to sleep off the fight and was staying up with the others, insisting that she was fine. "I hope they don't keep this up all night." She said to Xerius.

Xerius shrugged. _"If Vector didn't go on like this then I'd think there would be something wrong with him."_

Shade chuckled to herself as Xerius' ears suddenly twitched. He stood up straight and unsheathed his claws while Shade glanced around wildly. "What is it? Did you hear something?!"

Xerius frowned after a moment, straining to hear a sound but when he heard nothing after five minutes, he shook his head and leaned against the wall, flicking his wrists and the claws snapped back into his knuckles like they never existed. _"I thought I heard a noise but it's nothing… I believe."_

Shade shook her head. "Maybe the scary thought of an ARK experiment slitting someone's throat is scaring you Xerius."

Xerius growled, lifting his head high. _"I am not scared of anything."_

Shade rolled her eyes.

However, Xerius was right, he did hear a noise and if only knew how serious the meaning of the noise was. For upstairs on the second level, inside Xsus' room, Sorro, Xsus, Charmy, Cheese, and Cream were sneaking out of the window that they had opened—the noise Xerius had heard.

Sorro put a finger to his lips as Cream opened her mouth to say something and Charmy flapped his bee wings frantically along with Cheese with his chao wings while Sorro and Xsus floated silently next to him. Xsus reached a hand out for Cream and she took it before finding herself being carried by Xsus.

Xsus glanced at Sorro as he floated silently next to him, "Since when were you so good at being quiet?" He whispered to Sorro.

Sorro grinned as he put his hands on his hips like Peter Pan would. "My parents are part ninja!" He whispered back.

Suddenly, from out another nearby window, another Chao shot forward and lifted a small hand to yell at them. Xsus paled and put a hand on the Chao's mouth. "Nightshade…! Shhhh! We're sneaking out of here to save the world! You don't want to die do you?"

Nightshade cocked her head, eyes growing twice their size, although she couldn't say anything since Xsus' hand was still over her mouth. Xsus removed his hand and put a finger to his lips then showed her a cocky grin. "You never saw _anything_, okay Nightshade?"

Nightshade crossed her arms and scowled as Xsus removed his hand from her mouth. "Chao, Chao…" She muttered angrily.

"I'll bring you back a souvenir," Xsus promised her as he and the others floated higher into the air. "Bye Nightshade!"

Nightshade watched the five of them shoot off, heading towards Central City before contemplating whether it was a good idea to tell Chaos about this or not. After a moment, she shook her head and yawned. She'd tell Chaos in the morning, how much damage could they do if Cream was traveling with them?

-XXXXXXXX-

Sorro glanced at Xsus as he and the others hid in the bushes. It was almost three in the morning and Xsus, Charmy, and Cream were yawning, not used to saving the world late at night like Sorro was, apparently. Sorro took a bottle out of his bag and handed it to Xsus. "Drink some of this and give it to the others."

"What's it do?" Xsus asked as he pulled the cork out of the bottle.

"It's like an energy drink," Sorro explained. "Or coffee, depends on how you look at it. But don't drink the whole thing! You'll be up for weeks if you do!"

Xsus took a small sip before handing the potion to Cream and his eyes widened as leaned back, like his mind had just been blown. "Wowa…!"

Sorro laughed. "I forgot to mention it had a weird taste again didn't I?"

"Weird taste…? No! That tasted amazing! Like a bunch of cookies!" Xsus lifted a fist into the air and then was instantly shushed by Sorro.

"We're supposed to be quiet!" Sorro scolded him while wagging a finger.

Cream blinked as she leaned back. "That stuff tasted weird."

"Ooooh cool!" Charmy grinned. "It tastes like Espio's cooking!"

Xsus and Cream laughed while Sorro frowned, obviously not getting the joke and obviously never trying Espio's cooking before.

"Alright," Sorro turned his attention to the city. "We go in, look for Aero, take him out, and then save the world!"

"You make it sound easy!" Charmy said. "Things are never easy for us!"

Sorro shrugged. "Why wouldn't it be? Anyways, come on! Let's go! Sitting around here will only cause more trouble!"

Xsus frowned and lifted a hand. "Hang on, this team needs a name!"

Sorro blinked. "A team name…?"

"Yes," Cream said happily. "Maybe we could name it Team Flower!"

Charmy stuck his tongue out at Cream. "That's a terrible name! Why would you want to name it that?"

Xsus swatted Charmy on the side of the head. "It's a great name!" He yelled at him and both missed Sorro starting to laugh at their behavior. "But I got a better one, how about Team Ice Cream?"

"Team Ice Cream?" Charmy frowned and then nodded. "Ooo! I like that name!"

Xsus lifted his head into the air proudly. "Mmm-hmm! Everybody loves ice cream!"

"Hang on," Sorro argued. "What kind of team name is that? Why can't we be called something cool? Like Team Dimension?"

"Sorro," Xsus flattened his ears. "Not all of us are from the same dimension."

Sorro blinked and then laughed weakly. "Oh yeah, forgot, sorry. Um… team Lightwing?"

"Lightwing? Why would we be called that?" Cream asked.

"Well I bet we'd all be Light Givers if we got the chance, besides you, Hydro, I mean Xsus."

Xsus blinked and then shook his head. "Oh… um… right! Well, I'm sure that name would fit us if we were Light Givers."

Sorro frowned, this was going to be harder then he thought it was going to be. He then looked back at the city and his father's instincts took over as he looked back at the group. "Okay people, we can't focus on that! We need to get into the city and take out Aero!"

"But it sounds so simple! Nothing's ever simple!" Charmy complained.

Sorro sighed slowly, knowing Charmy was right until Xsus stood up, lifting a finger into the air. "We can save the world! I know we can!" He said to the others boldly. "Now, who's with me?"

The others cheered, obviously liking Xsus' sudden leadership skills as he led the way towards the city cautiously. As they got closer, they could see experiment projects moving in random directions and Xsus looked at the others. "How are we going to get in? We can't fly in, they'll see us, we can't go under it, it'll take forever."

The others frowned and Cream put her hands behind her back. "Maybe we could just walk in."

Sorro's eyes lit up and he showed a creepy smile that he would normally only give to Robyn and Kelly just to mess with them. "I have an idea…! Better than just walking in, we could charge in!"

"But everyone would know we're there though! Even Aero!" Xsus argued.

Sorro shrugged. "That doesn't mean we can't be sneaky as soon as we are in. We can attack Aero while he's least expecting it someplace else and take him out easy! It's the oldest trick in the book!"

"I thought that was eating ice cream…" Charmy whispered to Xsus, which caused him to laugh.

Sorro shook his head and then turned towards the city. "Last one inside the city is a rotten egg!" He called back and then charged forward as he took to the sky.

"Hey! No fair!" Charmy complained as he shot after Sorro.

Xsus looked back at Cream and held out a hand. "I can help you out with this one!"

Cream smiled and shook her head. "No, I'm sure I'm fine, Xsus!" She then used her ears to take to the sky and followed the others, which just gave Xsus the most stunned look ever.

Xsus frowned at the ground beneath him. "She can fly…! I never knew that! Hmm! I wonder what else she can do that she hasn't told me yet! To the sky!" Xsus lifted himself off the ground and shot off towards the city.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Ugh, nothing ever happens to me…" An experiment known as the failed Project Mallet muttered. He looked like a brown dog but had giant mallets for his hands. He sighed as he sat outside the city limits. He opened an eye to see if any of the other experiments were listening… which they weren't.

Mallet sighed and spoke louder, but still didn't get anyone's attention. "Well, I hope something _interesting_ happens soon…!"

Just as fate would have it, Charmy dropped down from the sky and tackled Mallet. "Haha! Gotcha!" He said cheerfully as Mallet stumbled around, reaching up uselessly with his mallet hands to get Charmy off his face.

"H-hey! G-get off me!"

Sorro shot through the city limits from the sky above followed by Cream and Xsus while Charmy let go of Mallet's face. "Na, na, nana!" Charmy stuck his tongue out while pulling the corner of his eye down to taunt Mallet, which worked wonderfully.

"Why you…!" Mallet swung one of his hands/mallets at Charmy, who flew out of the way thanks to his years taunting Vector.

"Haha! You missed!" Charmy teased as he floated higher into the air. "Better luck next time!" With that, Charmy turned and shot after Cream, Xsus, Cheese, and Sorro.

As soon as the bee caught up to the others, Sorro touched down on a nearby rooftop and then dived for the ground as a random experiment that looked similar to a chameleon but looked like a robot too as it lifted its machine gun hands and fired. Before Sorro could get a better look at it, Xsus dropped down from the sky and pulled the water bottle he had been keeping in his back pocket out and unscrewed the lid, shooting a blast of water at the chameleon and knocked it over the edge of the building.

Sorro looked towards the main building that used to hold the mayor's office._ Aero has to be in there…_ Sorro thought to himself, his blue eyes narrowing. He glanced at the others. "Follow me!"

The other four watched as Sorro jumped off the building and flew towards the ground below, blasting the grate that led the way into the sewage with a blast of white light and dropped down into it. Charmy shrugged and followed Sorro's lead while Xsus glanced at Cream.

"Ready?"

"Of course!" Cream leaned over the edge and looked down with a frown. "But… it's so far down there…"

Xsus glanced at Cheese as the Chao landed on his shoulder before running forward and picking Cream up in his arms. "Don't worry! I'll get you down in a jiffy and it'll be safe! Don't worry!"

Cream smiled. "Okay!"

Xsus backed up for a running start when suddenly, the cyborg chameleon jumped in his way. Xsus' eyes narrowed and he held onto Cream tightly as he started running towards the chameleon at full speed.

Cream let out a startled yelp as she wrapped her arms tightly around Xsus' neck and buried her face into Xsus' chest to not see how this was going to end while Xsus found himself grinning excitedly, enjoying the thrill of adrenaline this was giving him.

"Here we go, Cream!" Xsus called as they were three feet in front of the chameleon before shooting off into the air at full speed, leaving a stunned chameleon behind. He shot up a good sixty feet above the building before doing turning direction in mid air and shooting through the hole Sorro had found. Xsus let out a giddy laugh as he shot through the hole while Cream held onto Xsus tightly.

All the other experiments that saw the fight could only stare as the covering over the hole that Sorro had knocked back was moved back to its proper place by itself with a bit of water.

-XXXXXXXX-

Aero glanced up from his desk as a black panther walked into the room. It was limping slightly on one of its legs and its violet eyes glowed in the darkness surrounding it. Aero sat up with a confident smirk as the creature dropped a paper with its robotic hand onto its desk, although the creature's sharp claws had made holes in the paper.

"Project Night! How good of you to come join me!" Aero said as he waved a hand at the cushioned seats in front of his oak desk, motioning for the project to sit.

Project Night didn't move as Aero sighed and picked up the paper. He skimmed over it and as he read, a glare appeared on his face. If Aero had laser vision, the paper would've probably started burning as Aero glanced up at Project Night.

"So, a bunch of kids managed to sneak into my city?!" Aero growled. "I knew putting up guards would be no use!"

Project Night said nothing and Aero knew why, Gerald Robotnik never did manage to get around putting a voice box into Night's system. Aero took a deep breath as he formed his hands into a triangle and leaned forward in his chair, his black eyes staring seriously into the desk, as if thinking of a plan.

"Children in my city…" Aero muttered and then he let out a dark chuckle. "Maybe I should release my surprise gift early onto them and teach them a thing or two of the dangers of trespassing onto other Mobians' territory."

Aero lifted his eyes upward towards Night as he stood silently by the doorway. "Night, gather the others and prepare to release the Ultimate Project."

**So… it looks like things are getting dark again. So much for the happy moments *sighs* Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter, please leave a review, and Chaos wrote the next chapter to his story, so go read it!**

**UFO *looks at the burning wood* "Wow, I can't believe that worked."**

**Retto "I still don't know why I have matches in my pocket so we could light the wood on fire anyways."**

**Storm "We got a campfire now! Who brought the marshmallows?"**


	14. Chapter 14

***insert evil laugh right here* I finally have control of the computer…!**

**Katherine *face palms* "Really, Sierra? **_**Really**_**?"**

**Sierra *glares at Katherine* "Humph, shut up fool and I won't have to kill you so quickly."**

**Chaos *walks in the door with his hands behind his back* "Hey Sierra…!"**

**Sierra *turns glare to Chaos* "Don't you throw that water balloon at me either."**

**Chaos *sighs and takes the water balloon out from behind his back* "Fine… but what else am I going to do with this?"**

**Katherine "Well you could just ignore Sierra asking you not to throw it and…"**

**Shadow *walks in the room and Chaos grins* Chaos "Never mind!" *throws the water balloon and it hits Shadow***

**Katherine *sighs* "Anyways, welcome to the next chapter of This is War! Thanks goes to the following for reviewing, oh and BlackSandHeart would thank you herself… if she wasn't running around in the rain outside again. Anyways thanks to the Ohana for reviewing!"**

**Strife= What?! You always have s'mores?! Hand them over!  
*laughs* Speaking of rainbows… eh… I'll say it in the disclaimer *waves a hand* but I'm going to use that idea, thanks Strife!  
Chuck Norris? How did that get added into the mixture of Project Mirror, Shadow, and Chaos?! Anyways, you'll find out in this chapter who this "Ultimate Project" is. And those kids… are about to find a lot of trouble heading their way.**

**Chaos= Haha, you better not! :P  
Katherine "Aw, don't be harsh on Nightshade, she thought she was doing the right thing… wait… were you Nightshade?"  
Nightshade "Chao, chao!"  
Do they blow up Aero…? You're going to have to see…!  
Sorro "Explosion bottle?! Here, let me look! I think I brought it from the future…" *opens his bag and starts looking through it, pulling out bottles with different colored liquids in each one.***

**Strom= Yeah… but what Aero does you're going to have to wait and see…! (gah I really want to tell you people what happens but what'd be the fun of that…?)  
Katherine "Bro, you seriously need a new life." *glares threateningly*  
Oooo! The story where Braelyn comes in is going to be awesome! Anyways, write it soon please, write it soon!**

**Raeweis= *laughs* I think Strife's got the marshmallows. Anyways, ohmigosh that'd be hilarious if that happened with the lightning flashing and everyone thinking **_**oh crap…**_**! And yes, Xerius is going to flip out when he sees Xsus and Sorro both gone missing. Yeah, and I can assure you, it's not Shadow. If it was then… *shudders* something bad happened to Shadow when we weren't looking.**

**Retto= Xsus *launches himself into the air and flips up and over you before landing on the ground… then falling over with a laugh* "Haha! You know this is a lot of fun once you get past the scary look on your face, Retto!"  
*face palms* Xsus… this is a fight.  
Xsus "Oh… right! Jumps to his feet and throws another water whip at you***

**UFO= What was funny, was while I posted this chapter I was thinking to myself: unlucky number… hope nothing bad happens. Anyways, I feel your pain about the homework… but what contest? And skittles?! *eyes light up like Xsus' do when you mention ice cream* I love skittles!  
Idk, Chaos understands Nightshade. You're going to ask him how he does it *laughs*  
Anyways, wow, those sound like weird dreams. And Tonberry? I haven't heard of this character… but I looked him up and anime style fell over. He doesn't look evil…! But, I have been proven wrong many times on that subject. And FF, Final Fantasy! I know what that is! I want to play more Final Fantasy games I just don't have the time and I need to finish KH first before **_**considering**_** buying another game.  
Zap *waves a hand* "Never mind… I don't feel like currently arguing. But if I must pick a topic I can only think of ones we both agree on. Like how FD should be destroyed, Light is better than Darkness, ice cream should never be given to Xsus, Sorro, Cream, and Charmy…"  
FD "Is that a challenge?!"  
Zap "You better believe it is."  
FD *growls***

**Amicus= I know! It's always Central City! The next one should be Station Square or something. *shrugs* Ah, but you know, I'll think of something as always!  
And the Ultimate Project… fun? I don't know about that one… you'll see what I mean when the chapter's over…  
Xsus "Yay! Ima winning!"  
Hydro *shrugs* "Still… it's only logical the cute, little, ten-year-old boy is winning first place."  
*looks at the soggy marshmallows* …uh… I think we're good. *laughs***

**Rya= Touché… but who knows how long Gerald was up on the ARK in the first place but Shadow **_**was**_** made for Maria so true enough, true enough. Gerald had to work awfully fast to make all these. How he had the spare time to even communicate to Maria is now a mystery to me. And I thought Maria was twelve when she was killed.  
*laughs* Okay that's true too. That would be beyond failure.  
Sierra "I am not!"  
Thank you!  
Xerius *flattens ears shamefully* **_**"I wish I did look. I am obviously going to pay dearly for this one."**_**  
Yeah, haha someone's seeing the problem here with changing the future. And it's going to show that things might be changing within the next scene of the story… And yes. They might want to run for their dear lives if they want to help out…**

**Disclaimer= So, this was given to you by Strife. Thanks goes to him for the idea… and *laughs quietly* seriously, I saw a double rainbow today. No joke. I laughed so hard when I saw it too. Anyways, to the disclaimer so the rest of you stop going 'what are you talking about?':  
Raeweis *hears the thunder and excitedly looks out the window* "Oh! Look guys, look! It's raining!"  
Blackie *seems to appear next to Raeweis with Amicus as all three look out the window* "Seriously?! Oh! It is! It is!"  
Amicus "We should go dance in it!"  
Storm *already opening the front door* "Already there, people!"  
*everyone runs outside to stand in the rain as Amicus manages to get Raeweis and Blackie to do a rain dance while laughing*  
Storm *looks up and sees a double rainbow* "DOUBLE RAINBOW! Wait, what does it mean?"  
Strife "I know, here it's this: Sonic and company belong to SEGA, I own some ideas in the story as well as sharing the character Alena with Blackie over there…" *points to Blackie* "…who also owns the Dimension Jumpers. Chaos owns Chaos…" *moves finger over to Chaos* "…and Storm owns Robyn, Kelly, and Aero." *points to Storm*  
Rya "What does a double rainbow have anything to do with the disclaimer?"  
Strife *shrugs* "You tell me."  
Rya *glances over at Blackie, Amicus, and Raeweis* "You know what… that looks like too much fun **_**not**_** to do." *runs over and joins in the dance*  
Chaos "Talk about random. Why the heck are they doing that?"  
UFO *shrugs* "Who knows, should we join in?"  
Chaos "I don't dance, UFO."  
UFO "So…?"  
Retto "I think I'll just stay here with you guys…"**

Chapter Fourteen=

TIME= 06 HOURS 19 MINUTES

AREA= IN THE SEWERS OF CENTRAL CITY

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

"It's dark down here!" Charmy complained as they walked along. The nasty smell of water sloshing with other unknown objects was to the left of them and they walked alongside a wall, putting their hand on it to avoid into falling into the unknown water.

"Yes, yes it is," Sorro muttered as he squinted in the darkness, not being able to see anything. Sorro took the moment to wonder if Followers of Darkness could see in the dark. He'd have to ask Sierra if they made it out of this alive.

Xsus' ears twitched as he walked along in the back of the group with Cream in front of him, Charmy in front of her, and Sorro leading the way. He glanced back and frowned, wondering why he didn't hear any experiment projects chasing them. Maybe it smelled too bad for them to even bother chasing them.

"Oh great, another turn in the road," Sorro muttered as he suddenly stopped, which caused the others to bump into him and all stumbled forward, almost falling into the sewage before them. Sorro glared back at them, even though they couldn't see him as he squinted into the darkness again. "Did anyone bring a flashlight? I can't find mine." Sorro asked after a pause while reaching into his bag again to find it, making tickling sounds as the glass bottles inside hit each other.

Xsus frowned as he walked forward, stopping next to Sorro. "I have an idea, maybe the water can show us where we're at."

Sorro wrinkled up his nose. "Do you know what's in that water, Xsus?"

Xsus frowned, "No, why?"

Sorro sighed, forgetting that Hydro was ten instead of seventeen again. "Nasty, nasty things Xsus."

Xsus flattened his ears. "Well that sounds better than staying blind in the darkness!" He stepped forward and the others stuck out their tongues in disgust when they heard a splashing sound.

There was a moment of silence.

"Xsus?" Cream finally called out nervously.

Suddenly, bright blue light appeared in front of them, making all cover their faces and squinting because of the harshness of it. When it was gone, they could see the water glowing a beautiful blue color and the sloshing sound was gone. There was nothing in the water, in fact, it almost looked perfect enough to drink, not like any of them wanted too though.

Sorro and the others could now see that they were part of a four way turn off and Sorro glanced at the road above their heads with a frown. "If we continue in that direction…" Sorro pointed to the left. "…then maybe something will happen."

Xsus pulled his boot out of the glowing blue water while Charmy applauded. "That's so cool! Xsus, I didn't know you could purify water!"

Xsus rubbed the back of his head while laughing. "Neither did I! I must've picked it up during the Day of the Dead when Chaos became a part of me. I got a few new tricks after that happened."

"The hedgehog?" Charmy cocked his head sideways.

"No!" Xsus said with a laugh, "The water element Chaos!"

Cream, Xsus, Cheese, and Charmy laughed while Sorro suspiciously looked at the glowing blue water. "Hmm… alright people! Follow me!" With that, Sorro floated over to the left side of the four way crossing and looked back as Xsus, Cream, Cheese, and Charmy followed him.

Sorro led the way forward again, following the water since it was still glowing a healthy blue color that reflected all of their tired, dirty faces. The smell in the air was much better now, it smelled more like another day at the beach rather than the stench of garbage and other unknown materials.

Xsus suddenly noticed a small hole to his left that he and the others could easily climb through that steadily led upwards, like a shaft. He moved up towards it and stuck his head inside it while Cream and Charmy stopped to watch him. "Hey Sorro!" Charmy called to the cat. "Look at what Xsus is doing!"

Sorro stopped and glanced back then his eyes widened when he saw Xsus starting to climb into the shaft. He ran over to the group and thrust his hands out towards Xsus as the boy's was all that he could see now. "Xsus! What are you doing?!"

Xsus pulled himself back out to look at Sorro, putting a finger to his lips. "Shhh! I hear voices! Come on guys! Follow me this time!" Xsus climbed back into the hole and was followed by Cream, who was then followed by Charmy, and then by a suspicious Sorro who was wondering who could possibly be talking by a shaft like this one.

It was very dark inside the shaft as the crew climbed upwards but it suddenly opened up, revealing itself to be part of the air conditioning vents. Light shined up ahead and the team's eyes glowed in it and moved towards it. As they moved forward, they heard voices of a conversation growing louder too and none of the voices sounded friendly.

They reached a gate in the air conditioning system and Xsus and Charmy silently climbed to the other side and all leaned forward, looking down into the gate that normally kept people from going in and out. All strained their ears to listen and suddenly, Cream almost screamed when she saw Aero walk forward _right underneath them_ but she was stopped when Xsus leaned forward and clamped his hand over her mouth.

"Are you sure this is it?" Aero growled angrily as a few other experiments gathered around. Although the only one besides Aero that Xsus, Charmy, and Cream recognized was Project Night. Night was holding a small box in his hands and he silently handed it to Aero, who took it like it was made of dynamite.

"Very well," Aero said when the other projects said nothing. He cautiously opened the lid to the box and everyone behind the gate held their breath as he opened it, but Aero's back blocked the view of what was inside to the ones in the gate.

"What's in the box?" Charmy whispered and was instantly shushed by Cream, Cheese, Xsus, and Sorro.

Xsus removed his hand from Cream's mouth and gently put a hand on the side of the gate as Charmy leaned on the other side. The gate suddenly popped open like a door and Charmy let out a yelp as he fell through it and almost toppled to the floor but was stopped by Xsus and Sorro as they grabbed onto his legs before he could fall to the ground.

Charmy clamped a hand over his mouth to prevent from screaming. He was shocked the others didn't hear the commotion but he figured they were all too distracted by what was in the box, none of them were even looking in his direction, not even the silent Project Night or Aero.

However, from this view, he had a better view of the box. He squinted and then clamped his hands tighter over his mouth when he saw that it was a black egg inside of it. It had an unknown swirl on it and seemed to be spinning constantly in the darkness inside of the egg.

Xsus and Sorro slowly pulled Charmy up as Aero lifted his hands into the air dramatically. "Oh Ultimate Project! You have been dormant for many, many years but now is the time to release yourself back unto this world!"

"What's he talking about?!" Xsus whispered to Charmy as Sorro bent down and pulled the grate silently back into position.

"There's an egg in that box!" Charmy whispered to the others in terror. "It's as black as… as… as… the night!"

Cream put a hand to her mouth. "That sounds scary!"

"Shhh!" Sorro whispered to the others as he put a hand on his lips. "The Ultimate Project in my time was just a big pushover. It was just a big bird about my size. I was able to take it out, piece of cake! I doubt this means anything different!"

Xsus shuddered. "We should get out of here before they catch us!"

The crew scrambled away as a large crack appeared in the egg. Aero's eyes grew darker and a confident smirk appeared on their faces as Night looked at Aero. "I know, I know, Project Night, the children have seen the Ultimate Project… but it will be released soon! Now arise Ultimate Project!"

Another crack appeared in the egg and then it shattered, causing all experiments to jump back in surprise except Aero. Aero's eyes glowed with an unknown fire in them as he started laughing to himself as the small frail creature before him slowly grew blacker and bigger as blood red eyes opened up to the world on the sides of its head.

"Welcome back Ultimate Project, would you like a little snack on the trespassers of this city?" Aero asked, his dark smile showing all of his fangs.

-XXXXXXXX-

Xsus, Sorro, Charmy, Cream, and Cheese ran for their dear lives down the hallways of the sewer. "If it's not a threat then why is Aero releasing it?" Xsus nervously asked Sorro.

Sorro shrugged. "He thought it'd be unstoppable because it's called the _Ultimate_ Project. But really, it's a sad sight to see. It doesn't have a brain and it didn't fight very well."

Charmy frowned. "Well that's lame."

Sorro nodded. "It was!"

Cream frowned. "But the people from the future are in the past now! That might've changed things up and made the Ultimate Project a dangerous threat!"

The others became silent as they realized how bad of a thing this might be if Cream was right.

Xsus' ears suddenly twitched and he glanced back in surprise. "W-wait… did you guys here that?"

"Hear what?" Charmy asked.

Sorro chuckled to himself. "After an encounter with Aero everyone thinks they're hearing things, it was probably nothing!"

Xsus paled as his ears twitched again. "N-no! Something's coming for us! Run!" He spun around and booked it forward, grabbing Cream's hand as he ran alongside the glowing blue water. Sorro and Charmy frowned at each other until they heard a screeching sound behind them. Both froze in terror, glanced at each other, and started running as fast as they could after Cream and Xsus.

"Quick! Fastest way out?" Xsus glanced back at Sorro.

"Left!" Sorro pointed to the left and the crew took a turn to the left when they reached a four way stop again. None of them dared to glance back as the screeching got louder. Sorro reached into his bag with a spare hand and threw back a blue liquid bottle and a blue gas covered behind them.

"That should hold it off for a moment!" Sorro said to Charmy when the bee gave him a confused look.

The crew slid downwards as the ground tilted underneath them next to a glowing blue waterfall and Sorro realized they had never came this way before. He stole the moment to glance back but saw nothing but blue gas, which made him wonder if throwing the vial backwards was a good idea or not.

Xsus glanced back and then jumped across the water, pulling Cream along as he did so, "This way!"

Sorro and Charmy jumped to the other side and ran faster to keep up with Xsus as he pulled Cream and carried her wedding style down the hallways, glancing back to make sure the others were staying close. Sorro took this moment to realize that Xsus was starting to act a bit like Hydro…

The thought vanished when he heard a screech directly behind them. Well, they hadn't lost their pursuer yet. Then, suddenly, the screech transformed into a scream which made the hairs on the backs of everyone's necks rise. Sorro shuddered as his eyes widened in horror, the scream sounded just like Cosmo when she was killed…

Sorro shook the thought away and forced himself to keep running.

Xsus took a sharp right up ahead and then slid to a stop, turning around and then running in the other direction. Sorro and Charmy slid to a stop to avoid crashing into him before running after him, jumping over the river of glowing blue water as they did so.

"Come on!" Xsus begged as he looked back at them. With a pang, Sorro realized there were tears in his eyes and understood that Xsus was _terrified_ of what was happening to him. This was his first real taste of war and he wasn't liking it.

Suddenly, when they reached another four way stop, Cream let out a scream as a black mass swooped by and tackled Xsus to the ground, which forced him to drop her to the ground. The mass and Xsus slid away, down another hallway as Cream, Charmy, Cheese, and Sorro glanced down into the hallway in shock and terror.

Then, they saw the creature that was pinning Xsus to the floor.

"Oh my…" Sorro's voice gave out before he could go on.

Xsus struggled uselessly underneath giant black claws that were the size of swords attached to a giant black foot or paw, it was hard to tell but it was easy to notice that it had four of them and all four had claws the same size. It was the color of midnight and blended in nicely with the darkness of the sewer. It opened its large mouth like its jaw was broken, so it opened farther up the necessary, showing Xsus all there was to see in its mouth, three rows of razor sharp teeth in unnatural angles, making it look like it could chew through bricks if it wanted to. Large wings stood out on either side of the thing's back and curved off at the end, forming claws. It had a long thin tail that looked like it could snap telephone poles in half like they were made of toothpicks. However, the worst part was its blood red eyes that glowed in the darkness.

Xsus squeaked in terror as drool fell from its mouth and sizzled on the ground, proving to him that it was acid. He then noticed the others standing behind the thing gaping in shock and terror at the nightmare before them.

"G-go!" Xsus choked out. "Go get the others! Send for some help! Hurry!"

Sorro blinked and shook his head before turning to the others. "You heard Hydro, come on!" He then ran down the hallway followed by Charmy and Cheese but Cream stayed behind, giving Xsus a desperate look before glancing at Sorro and Charmy as they ran off.

"Go Cream…! I-I'll… be fine!" Xsus tried showing her a reassuring smile but it felt useless in this case.

Cream nodded and then finally ran off after the Charmy, Sorro, and Cheese as Xsus turned his gaze up to the monster before him as it stared at him with its cold red eyes. "You wanna here a knock knock joke?" Xsus managed to say quietly while laughing weakly.

The creature let out anther scream, blasting Xsus' ears against his head from the force of the scream and Xsus flinched as soon as it was over. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Just don't eat me, please Mr. Creepy Lizard thing!"

The creature hissed and Xsus suddenly passed out cold from being so scared.

-XXXXXXXX-

Sonic slid to a stop and looked around frantically. He put his hands to his lips. "Sorro! Xsus! Charmy! CREAM?!"

When no one answered his call, he looked around frantically again as a few others that had tagged along with him in the search party followed along, all of them calling out desperately for the missing kids.

_"Sorro! Xsus!"_ Xerius called telepathically behind him and then looked at Sonic as the blue blur turned to him. Xerius shook his head, indicating he hadn't heard a thing or had any vision of the future of their whereabouts.

Sonic sighed and turned to Chaos the hedgehog, who also shook his head, he hadn't found anything either. The team had awakened early that morning when Nightshade finally decided to tell Chaos what was going on. Half the team was searching by Sonic's home in case they didn't make it far while the other half was searching outside of Central City, keeping an eye out for the missing kids. However, now that it had been almost an hour, Sonic was almost ready to give up hope.

Xerius and Chaos turned to continue their search elsewhere when suddenly Sierra appeared next to Sonic. Sonic didn't even glance at her as he stared glumly at the ground.

Sierra smirked next to Sonic. "Even when you're sulking like that you're still cute."

Sonic's face turned red and he waved a hand at Sierra. "Not now, Sierra, we have to find Xsus, Sorro, Cream, Charmy, and Cheese first."

Sierra shook her head in disbelief, "Fine."

Sonic glanced over at the cat as she squinted at the city with a frown. "They could be inside the city," Sierra offered a moment later.

"Why would they do something like that…?" Sonic asked.

Sierra shrugged. "I don't know much about them, or care much for that matter, but it was just a suggestion."

Sonic shrugged as well and then both became quiet when they heard a noise steadily getting louder from a nearby tree. The cat and the hedgehog glanced over at the tree and frowned as suddenly, out of the ground from around the tree, Charmy scrambled out of it screaming.

"SONIC!" Charmy wailed when he saw the blue blur. He ran towards Sonic and gave him a tight hug while the others gathered around quickly.

"Charmy! Where are the others?!" Chaos demanded.

Charmy's eyes were wet with tears. "Waaa! It was so scary…! Aero was there and he had an Ultimate Project that he let out, and Xsus…! Why?!"

"Where are the others, Charmy?" Espio asked as he walked towards the group with Maria and Kelly. When Charmy saw the chameleon, he let go of Sonic and gave Espio a flying hug, which Espio caught in surprise while blinking slowly, like he couldn't believe this was the happening to him.

"Espio…! We gotta save him!"

"Save who?!" Kelly demanded.

Charmy was too busy crying when the ground rumbled again and Cream jumped out of the hole followed by Sorro. Sorro looked around wildly and when he saw Xerius, tears formed in his eyes that he was trying to fight back while Cream ran into Amy's arms, also crying.

_"What happened, Sorro?"_ Xerius asked seriously as he crossed his arms. Everyone turned to look at the boy since he was the only one not crying hard enough not to be able to talk.

Sorro bit his lip and looked at the ground, trying not to cry. "X-Xsus… got… cap-captured…"

Xerius paled. _"What?!"_

Sorro suddenly ran forward and hugged Xerius tightly while the others could only stop and stare. "I'm sorry!" Sorro wailed. "If only I was stronger, or faster, but I'm not! I sat there while Xsus got taken by the Ultimate Project and he told the rest of us to run! And I ran, dad, I ran like there was no tomorrow. I left him alone in the darkness and he could be dead now, this is all my fault!"

Xerius was speechless and the others didn't look any better while Sorro started crying.

"The Ultimate Project?" Sonic said with a frown and glanced over at Kelly.

Kelly shook her head. "In our time it's just a large bird that can be knocked out easily… but from how Sorro explains it it's an entirely different creature now. It looks like our effect of time traveling did change things for the worse…"

Sonic shook his head. "Xsus is captured then…"

"What should we do?" Chaos asked. "We can't just leave Sugar Rush kid in there all alone with only Aero to keep him company."

"We need to regroup," Sierra said seriously as she stood up taller next to Sonic and everyone glanced over at her. "If we regroup and attack full force we might have a better chance at winning this fight and take out this 'Ultimate Project' before it does become a major threat along with Aero and the others."

The others nodded in agreement as Sonic sighed and pulled out a Chaos Emerald quietly. Everyone looked towards the skyline, wondering if Xsus was okay for a moment before Sonic quietly muttered, "Chaos Control," And all disappeared in a flash of light.

**Shadow *glares at Chaos* "I walk in and you dare to throw a water balloon at me?!"**

**Chaos *laughs while shrugging* "Sure! Why not?"**

**Katherine *sighs and stands up* "Hang on people, no fighting…!"**

**Sierra "Fight, fight, fight, fight!"**

**Katherine *glares at Sierra* "You're not helping!"**

**Sierra *shrugs* "I know."**

**Katherine "Well, anyways, hope you liked the chapter and please do leave a review! Chaos uploaded another chapter to his story and…" *glances over at Shadow as he looks like he's ready to get into a fight with Chaos and Chaos looks no better* "…I gotta go. Later readers!"**

**Sierra *laughs darkly* "I hope one of them knocks the lights out of the other. That'd make this one less enemy to destroy!"**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hiya! Straight to the story, this chapter is going to be good.  
And cliffhangery…  
*sighs* I'm in a weird mood, I know, I know.**

**Anyways, thanks goes to my Ohana for reviewing!**

**Retto= Sierra *smirks* "I am a Follower of Darkness. Since when have I **_**considered**_** joining the side of the light?"  
You got a point there, they do have the same voice now thinking about it, just that Sierra has a darker tone to it then Katherine's does.  
Xsus *jaw drops and eyes widen as he jumps backwards* "Eeek! He turned into me!" *starts running around in circles screaming and then suddenly gains composure, turning to you and scowling while lifting fists* "That's not funny! You can't just copy me! I'm my own person with my own feelings!" *his fur rises to show his irritation and fear rising* "I guess this'll be the perfect opportunity to face myself then!"**

**Amicus= *pales* I'm already dancing so I'm good. *nods*  
Agreed! This "Ultimate Project" thing is really creepy. It was originally called another name… but you'll learn what it is sooner or later. And no, sadly, that wasn't the cute couple moment. *laughs weakly* I hope it's not too horrible for you when it comes. *gives you a hug* Aw, Amicus! Don't cry…! If you're going to cry, I'm gonna cry and then we're all screwed.  
*shudders suddenly* that dream you told me about, it gives me the chills to think I'd do something horrible like that…  
*sighs* but I hope you're having fun on your vacation! I'll just tell you random stories for each chapter while you're gone. *laughs***

**Strife= *laughs*  
And yes, Sierra is **_**quite**_** tsundere. So, yes again, I decided on combining a bit of Xsus and Hydro since they are the same person so I thought it would be a good idea *shrugs*. It worked well though, and the time stream is finally showing itself to be screwed up.**

**Chaos= Sierra *glares and jumps to her feet* "Bring it on, boy!"  
Katherine *jumps in between them* "Hey, HEY! No fighting! Cut it out! Both of you!" *glares at both of them as Shadow sits up, rubbing his nose*  
Sorro *lifts a bottle and squints at it* "Uh… no… you just memorize them if you make all of them yourself." *grins* "You should've seen it when I made my first sample of the explosion one, I blew up the half side of the Underground City!"  
Xerius *face palms***

**Storm= *laughs* wow, that was short. But, I get why. And yes, not Xsus!**

**Rya= *shrugs, then nods, then laughs* they never do say how old she was.  
Sierra *glares and looks away*  
Yeah, rainbow dancing, it twas awesome. *nods*  
*glances at the boys and Cream* Well?  
Sorro "Well… I guess it **_**was**_** suspicious, especially when Charmy fell with a screech."  
Xsus *giggles* "I liked Aero's shoes!"  
Cream *also laughs* "Oh Xsus! But I suppose you're right, Miss Rya, it was quite suspicious how they didn't try to capture all of since we were right there."  
*sighs* but you're right. That was one of those: **_**don't move an inch **_**moments. And you're right! As long as Hydro's around, Xsus must be too!  
Sierra *smirks* "Thank you! Fight! Fight! Fight!"**

**Raeweis= *laughs and shakes her head at the beginning of review*  
Yeah, the UP is a bird, in a really weird way, like a misshapen bird thingy-ma-bobber. *grins* Glad to see that I blew your mind too! And yes, *laughs again* it's Xsus when would he **_**not**_** going to try to tell a knock knock joke to somebody?**

**UFO= Alvainia knows where you went off to *laughs* but I bet I'll hope to see you around soon again, UnkownFollower!**

**Disclaimer= So, this might make you all laugh, my friend had a Sonic the hedgehog hat and I wore it. *grins and nods* Yes, it's entirely true. I felt like a total nerd and my friend and I were laughing how I was going to stop Eggman with the hat and how fast we could do it. Then we got into an argument with a kid who said that it was Doctor Robotnik, **_**not**_** Eggman. Anyways, to the disclaimer *laughs*:  
Amicus *shoulders her backpack* "Alright people, I'm going on vacation so I'll see you all in a few days!"  
Chaos *scowls* "You sure you can't take us with you?"  
Storm "I want come!"  
Rya *grins* "Here, I can fit in your trunk and you wouldn't have to worry about me!"  
FD *suddenly walks up to the door and hands Blackie a letter* "For you, SandHeart."  
Blackie *scowls and opens the letter then glares as FD walks away. Opens the letter* "Oh great, the disclaimer came."  
Strife "Read it then." *shrugs*  
Blackie "'Sonic and Co. belong to SEGA, I own the Dimension Jumpers, Strife owns some ideas in the story and shares the character Alena with me, and'…" *stops for a moment and glances at Strife* …I'll say that at the end of the chapter. 'Chaos owns Chaos, Storm owns Aero, Robyn, and Kelly!'"  
Strife *tries to take the letter* "Say what at the end of the chapter?! Let me see!"  
Blackie *holds letter out of reach and glares at Strife* "Nope! You can't see it yet!"  
Retto *watches the argument and turns to Rya* "So, how are you going to fit in Amicus' trunk?"  
Rya *grins* "I'll do it, just you wait and see!"  
Raeweis "…you know… that might **_**not**_** be the best idea, Rya."  
Amicus *laughs* "And my parents would flip out to see you in the trunk, you know that right?"  
UFO *laughs* "That'd be a sight to see!"**

Chapter Fifteen=

TIME= 08 HOURS 10 MINUTES

AREA= TEN MILES OUTSIDE OF SONIC'S HOME

YEAR= PRESENT DAY

"Chaos!" Katherine called as she ran up to the red hedgehog as he came stumbling over the hill. Shadow the hedgehog turned his attention away from the waterfall about ten miles away from Sonic's home to see Katherine running up to her brother. The waterfall was made from a glacier farther up the mountain, but neither Shadow nor Katherine had looked in that direction yet for Sorro, Xsus, Charmy, or Cream.

Maria Robotnik climbed over the slopes and stood next to Chaos, rocking back and forth on her heels as Shadow walked up. "We're back and we found them."

Katherine let out a slow sigh of relief. "Thank the Light Givers…"

"But…" Chaos lifted a finger warningly and Katherine gave him a worried look which was all he needed to know he needed to go on. Shadow stopped next to Katherine and crossed his arms while Maria laughed quietly to herself at seeing how the two looked almost exactly alike now. Chaos took a deep breath before continuing. "According to Sorro, Xsus got captured by something called the Ultimate Project…"

"Very funny," Shadow muttered under his breath, which caused Katherine and Maria to laugh quietly.

"…and he's in Aero's clutches. Sonic wants all of us to come back to his place so we can put together a plan to take out the projects in one shot." Chaos finished after giving Shadow an annoyed look.

Katherine shook her head and lifted a hand, causing the group to look at her. "Well, if that's the case then we're going to need a lot more help. With just us working together, it might be effective, but it won't be enough."

Chaos nodded, looking thoughtful. "You're right, but who else could we grab?"

Shadow "I suppose you're thinking of two immortals…"

"Zap and Windy!" Maria cried out happily and caused the two hedgehogs and cat to look over at her in surprise.

Katherine laughed and nodded. "Yeah, I'll go grab Windy and Zap. I'm sure they'll be willing to help us out."

Shadow nodded and turned to Chaos. "I suppose you can Chaos Control all of us to Sonic's home or do we have to run?"

Katherine rolled her eyes, "I got this." Suddenly, all four's vision went white as the world seemed to flip upside down then right side up way too quickly and the group found themselves standing inside of Sonic's house, where the others were already gathered.

"Ugh… a warning would be better next time…!" Chaos grumbled as he stumbled away while Shadow closed his eyes to avoid going sick while everyone looked at them in surprise.

"Sorry…!" Katherine laughed weakly.

"Well, it looks like everyone's here, so what's the plan, Sonic?" Knuckles asked, turning to Sonic as the blue blur sat on a couch next to a silent Sierra, who sat next to an irritated Amy.

Sonic nodded to himself quietly before speaking up. "I have an idea and it's that we attack the city head on. The longer we wait, the sooner they will start killing all of us off slowly, one by one."

Hydro frowned, shaking his head. "But that's suicidal! I just heard about the monster that took past me and it sounds like we'll all be killed if we just attack head on!"

"It's a risk we'll have to take," Tikal called out and everyone glanced over at her as she spoke. She was standing next to Chaos the water element and Shade the echidna. "If we sit here and wait, they will destroy us all slowly. We must go down together as a group instead of working apart."

Xerius nodded. _"Since it looks like we're doing this together, when do you plan on all of us setting out?"_

Sorro glanced at Xerius, "Yeah Sonic, when?"

Xerius gave Sorro a look and Sorro glanced away quickly from Xerius with an innocent look on his face.

Sonic laughed quietly to himself before looking at the group entirely once more. "I say we set out tonight. The sooner the better but we don't want to push ourselves too soon since we did spend almost half of this day looking for Xsus, Cream, Cheese, Charmy, and Sorro."

Katherine lifted a hand. "Sonic, speaking of which, I have an idea..."

Everyone glanced over at Katherine, waiting for her to continue as she lifted her hands to the group. "So, as I was saying to Shadow, Chaos, and Maria earlier, what I think we should do is to get more back up. I want to go to my dimension and pick up Windy and Zap for some more help, you think that'd be a good idea?"

Sonic shrugged. "I don't see why not, go ahead!"

Katherine smiled and turned to Chaos, Shadow, and Maria. "Alright, let's head out to the other dimension."

Chaos lifted his Chaos Emerald before Katherine could even consider teleporting any of them. "Chaos Control!" All four disappeared in a flash of bright light.

Sonic looked to the others and shrugged as they stared at him expectantly. "That's all I need to say."

"Dismissed!" Sorro called and then got a glare from Xerius.

Rouge walked up to Xerius and looked over at Sorro before ruffling up the fur on top of his head. "You're a cutie, Sorro."

Sorro's face turned red. "Thanks... m—" Sorro stopped when he noticed Xerius glaring at him again and then went quiet once more while Rouge gave Xerius a cold look.

"Let him say what he wants to say!"

_"You might not want to know what he wants to say."_

"So?" Rouge put a hand on her hip and huffed at him angrily.

Sorro grinned. "You guys really do act like Hydro told me! I was too young to remember you two well when you died. I do remember that mom used to wake me up in the morning singing and dad would always ruffle up my fur when he got home!"

_"Like this...?" _Xerius bent down and messed up the fur on Sorro's head, causing him to scowl and try to fix it.

"H-hey! Come on! Dad!"

Rouge nodded and looked at Xerius. "I suspected as much."

Xerius glanced at Rouge. _"Expected what?"_

"Well he _does_ look like the spitting image of you, Xie."

Xerius' muzzle turned red while Sorro laughed.

On the other side of the room, Sierra turned to Sonic seriously. "Look... Sonic... I have an idea that's similar to Katherine's but it might not work as well."

Sonic gave Sierra a funny look. "Alright... what's your idea?"

Sierra looked at the ground. "I was wondering if I could bring... Father Darkness into this fight."

"The Lord of Darkness?"

"Yes..."

"The one who killed Terrarock before the Day of the Dead?"

"Yes but...!"

"The same cat that tricked Zap and Windy after their trip at the library?"

"Sonic...!" Sierra sighed angrily and the blue blur stopped, but he was grinning, knowing how easy it was for him to get under Sierra's skin. The black cat glared at him. "Humph! How you manage to do this to me without me killing you will forever remain a mystery, Sonic the hedgehog."

Sonic laughed quietly to himself and then waved a hand at her. "If you think it will change the tide in the war for the better then go and do it, Sierra. I'm not stopping you. If you think it's for the best then it's for the best."

Sierra blinked in surprise. _Is he serious?_ She thought to herself as she investigated the blue blur with a cautious look on her face. _Does he really trust me this much…? This could backfire horribly and yet he still trusts me…?_ Sierra shook her head and glanced away, staring silently at an invisible spot on the floor. "Thank you…" With that, she teleported away in a flash of bright light.

Sonic turned to the others as soon as she was gone and tried to ignore the dark glare Amy was giving him. "Alright people! Let's get ready to get rid of those ARK monsters!"

Everyone else cheered.

-XXXXXXX-

Katherine sighed as she looked around Light Givers square. Around her, Chaos, Maria, and Shadow stood up since they appeared in this dimension sitting down and they looked around too, absorbing the view of the scenery. The giant marble fountain stood behind them and a tall tower stood before them with an elevator leading down from the sky. Shops and Mobians moved here and there around them, all talking quietly to each other and shooting glances at the group.

Chaos frowned. "I haven't been here in years…! It looks like they've added that elevator they've been talking about to the tower."

Katherine smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it's a big improvement. Zap built the elevator with a few other's help. Good times… alright, anyways, let's get going. The longer we sit here the more time Aero has to kill everyone."

Maria nodded and then glanced at the tower. "Is that where Zap and Windy are?"

Katherine shrugged as she put her hands in her pockets. "They should be, I've never known them as being anywhere else." Katherine then led the group towards the tower and Shadow glanced around, noticing some of the Mobians glaring at them from all around.

"Why are they staring at us like that?" Maria asked, seeing the same thing Shadow was seeing.

Katherine scowled. "Humph, some people don't like us traveling to your guy's dimension. They're actually thinking about shutting us down and not allowing us to go to your dimension."

Chaos gaped, "Why would they do that?!"

Katherine shrugged. "I think it's because they think we're messing around with a fragile race. If we mess with your kind too much then we'll mingle and it will destroy the balance of the dimensions, making a bunch of half-breeds popping up. And it's considered a disgrace here to be a half-breed. So, they want to stop our visits with you guys."

Shadow growled as he crossed his arms as the crew walked up the cobblestone steps towards the glass front doors leading into the tower. "That's the most stupid thing I've ever heard of."

Katherine sighed. "If Queen Tatha wants it done then there's nothing we can do about it."

"Queen Tatha?" Maria asked questionably.

"Ruler of the Light Givers," Katherine explained. "She lives in a palace in the northern reaches of Light Givers' territory so she doesn't have to deal with Followers of Darkness as much as we do."

"I'm going to have to learn how your politics work someday." Shadow grumbled.

"It's easy really," Katherine said as Chaos opened the door and held it open for everyone to pass. All thanked Chaos or dipped his head for a moment as they went in and Katherine continued as they walked inside. "We're a democratic society, a group of people make their decisions, everyone votes on whether they like it or not, and the queen finalizes the decision. But, the government stays out of most things, thank the Light Givers, like this war. If they got involved then more people could be dead. Anyways, that's not important, hello Clumsy."

By now, the group walked up to the front desk inside the tower. The room seemed to be glowing a golden white color and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Few Mobians were in this room but the few that were were giving the four of them weird looks as Katherine put her hands on the wooden desk, and looked down at the small Mobian behind it.

Maria couldn't help herself when she walked up next to Katherine with Shadow and Chaos peaking over their shoulders. "Aw…! You're so cute!"

The kangaroo rat behind the desk let out a squeaking sound of fear as Maria stood next to Katherine and smiled down at it. The rat blinked up at them with purple colored eyes and its light tan colored fur didn't seem to help it in the slightest bit. The rat was tiny, about half the size of the four Mobians looking down at it.

The kangaroo rat spoke up, its voice sounding like it had sucked up a bit of helium and proving it was a female. "K-Katherine…! W-what are you d-doing b-bringing these other di-dimensioners here!" She stuttered.

"Dimensioners?" Katherine laughed. "You've lost your touch, Clumsy! This is my family and my friend, Maria!" Katherine waved a hand at Chaos and Shadow. "These are my brothers."

Chaos waved and Shadow glared at the kangaroo rat named Clumsy.

Clumsy swallowed as she started to gather the multitude of papers on her desk only to have them fall on the ground in a scattered mess. "O-oh dear…" She muttered to herself as she hopped off the desk. She wore a strange looking robe that had many colors sowed into it as she sat down on the ground, her long tail dragging on the ground as she stumbled to gather to the papers.

"Um," Katherine frowned at the kangaroo rat. "Do you need any help?"

"I d-don't n-need an-any help!" Clumsy insisted as she somehow managed to grab all her papers and then jump at an amazing height back onto the chair. She started putting the papers back onto her desk only to have them scatter on the floor once again. Clumsy stared at the papers in dismay as Maria came around the desk to help Clumsy.

"Here, let me help," Maria insisted as she bent down and helped pick up all the papers for the rat while Clumsy's face turned red.

"I-I said I didn't need help from an-any of you Di-dimension Jumpers!" Clumsy insisted as Maria put the papers on the desk. Katherine rolled her eyes and shook her head, obviously starting to get irritated by Clumsy's coldness to Chaos, Shadow, and Maria.

"Look Clumsy, cut it out." Katherine finally growled. "Zap and Windy, are they here?"

Clumsy glanced away from Maria as she came back around the counter and stood next to Chaos again. "Y-yes, yes they are. Why do you want t-to know? Are you going to do some m-more Dimension Jumping?"

Katherine nodded. "I have to, if I don't then the future of this dimension won't be any better than the other's."

Clumsy sighed and then waved a hand at the elevator. "T-they're on floor fifty-nine, b-be careful. Z-zap's in a bad mood today as it is. All the circuits in Light Givers' square k-keep cutting off and we k-keep losing power."

"Alright, thanks for the warning Clumsy, see you later." Katherine nodded and walked away, followed by her brothers and Maria. All of them climbed into the silent elevator, since Zap had removed the elevator music inside of it a few years back. As the doors closed, Maria frowned at Katherine.

"So, I suppose most people in this dimension do not like us from the other dimension?" Maria asked.

Katherine nodded. "It's irritating too, it's like they think people like you are going to blow up this dimension or something."

The crew became quiet for a little while longer until the elevator chimed and the metal doors before them opened up to a long, white hallway. Doors lined up on either side but all were shut closed tightly as Katherine led the way down the hallway with the others following her.

When they reached the end of the hallway they found themselves before a tall golden door with the handle reaching up above their heads, like the door belonged to a human at some point. Katherine reached up and turned the knob, pulling the door open…

…and then all four ducked when a spoon got chucked out in their direction. The spoon clanked on the ground behind them and all stole a moment to glance back as it crackled with electricity.

"Zap!" Chaos and Katherine yelled at the same time as they glared indoors. What they saw inside though, was quite surprising. In fact, it looked nothing like what they expected to see. They found Windy standing near the door with her arms crossed. Her dark grey fur looked like it was softer than most cats and her forest green eyes turned on them seriously as Katherine, Chaos, Shadow, and Maria walked into the room with big eyes.

"Wow…!" Chaos gaped as he looked at the white room. Hundreds of buttons, even more than the ones on the ARK was scattered all over the room. Just as many as machines lined the walls and there was only a small table that sat next to Windy with a few empty cups of what might've been coffee. Wires hung in random directions, giving the room the feel similar to a jungle. The smell of electricity was in the air along with the thick smell of coffee.

On the other side of the room before a large machine that looked like an oven, Zap stood up muttering to himself. "I'm so close…! I cannot give up now and afford to lose…" By now Zap noticed the four newcomers and stopped after a quick glance at Windy, who shrugged.

Zap crossed his arms as he looked at them. "What are you doing here?" He asked seriously with his dark blue eyes narrowing, showing the jagged zigzag shaped scar on the right side of his face. His golden colored fur looked brighter than Xsus' did as he stared silently at the group before them.

Katherine took a step forward. "Good to see you too, Zappy."

Zap rolled his eyes, ignoring the name. "Hello, Katherine."

Windy glanced over at Katherine and waved a hand at the millions of machines before them. "He's been trying to figure out how to do _it_ again."

"Again?!" Katherine spun onto Zap in surprise. "I thought you gave up on it!"

"I did," Zap admitted as he turned around and grabbed a blue wire, that instantly flashed with blue lightning but he ignored it as he turned to a machine and placed a hand on the machine, the machine suddenly hummed until Zap removed his grip from the wire and looked back at them. "But when Father Darkness was in the library as a human, I wanted to figure out how he did it."

"Wait… what are you guys talking about?" Chaos asked with a frown.

Windy sighed. "He wants to figure out how to be a human again."

"Just because of Father Darkness?" Katherine sighed as all remembered that everyone in this dimension started out as a human and turned into an animal thanks to light and darkness energy. "Good heavens, Zap…"

"Don't mock me, I'll figure it out eventually," Zap sighed as he grabbed a wrench with his tail and used it to toss it up into the air before it landed in his hands. He turned to glance at another machine before looking at the group again. "Anyways, what are you doing here?"

Shadow took a step forward. "Here's the short version: Xsus came to us from a destroyed future because all the ARK projects have gotten released. If we don't stop them then they'll destroy both dimensions and nothing will be left."

"Future Xsus?" Windy chuckled. "That had to be interesting. Is he the same as he is now?"

"More like a polar opposite." Katherine muttered, she cleared her throat after a moment and glanced up at Zap then over to Windy. "Look, we need your guys' help because we can't do this by ourselves. We need all the help we can get."

Zap and Windy looked at each other seriously, as if having a silent conversation with each other until Zap looked at the group. "Alright, we'll come. It sounds serious enough that us immortal Light Givers need to be there."

Katherine grinned. "Thanks guys."

Zap walked up and messed up the hair on Katherine's head. "Why would I not want to come besides that, Katherine?"

"Hey…!" Katherine grumbled as she tried fixing up her messed up hair while Maria, Chaos, and Windy laughed and Shadow smirked.

Zap shook his head. "Well, let us depart. Sitting here won't do us much good." He snapped his fingers and the entire group vanished in a flash of bright light.

-XXXXXX-

Sierra took a deep breath and tried to calm her jittery nerves as she reached the top of the stairs and opened the metal door slowly. She peaked around the door and looked down the vast, dark hallway covered with paintings of different people throughout time.

Sierra walked out from behind the door and closed it behind her, not liking the click that the door made as it closed, echoing down the long hallway. The velvet carpet underneath her feet silenced her footfalls on top the black marble as she started walking down the hallway. Giant columns stood on either side of her every ten feet or so, towering high into the air and spinning ever so slightly for decoration.

However, the vastness of the hallway and the columns wasn't what brought the chills down Sierra's spine. It was the paintings on either side of the wall. The paintings were of every Follower of Darkness with high rank that were killed, from the time when the first Followers of Darkness came to power to this very day.

Sierra glanced to her left to see a black bird Mobian seeming to stare down at her with its merciless blue eyes and Sierra found her fur rising off of her body and fighting back a hiss. She rubbed her arm to help flatten her fur as she started walking down the hallway slowly. On most occasions, she would've just teleported to the other side of the hallway but she had to pay her respects to a few people that were here.

After walking past a brown armadillo, Sierra just started teleporting down the hallway, looking for the portraits she needed while she looked around. She cursed quietly to herself, she was in a hurry maybe she should just forget about paying her respects. It wasn't like the two cared much for her anyways, they were too absorbed with other things and each other…

_Hang on…_ Sierra squinted down the hallway and sighed in relief when she saw the pictures. She ran up to the paintings and slid to a stop before them, glancing up at the small portraits on the bottom corner of the wall. Sierra got down on one knee and smiled faintly at the two pictures.

"Hello friends," She muttered as she reached into her pocket, pulling out a black wallet. She glanced at the picture on the right, seeing it as a picture of a cat that was very close to being black. She had dark hazel eyes and a confident smirk on her face in the picture as she leaned against a wall. The picture was taken days before her death.

Sierra opened her wallet and pulled out a black card before placing it in one of the bowls that stood beneath all the paintings and pictures. "Get yourself something good in the Land of the Dead before you're judged by the Council of Death, you hear?" Sierra murmured to the picture. The cards were known for their abilities of granting good luck to the spirits wandering in the Land of the Dead, waiting for trial.

Sierra glanced to the picture next to the one of Flame the cat and sighed when she saw the human boy in the picture. He leaned back against a nearby wall in the picture like Flame was and Sierra sighed to herself as she remembered that she and Flame worked together to take the picture, fighting over the camera as they did so.

Sierra stared darkly into Terios' dark, neon green eyes for a moment that seemed to blend in with his black hair. "I'm still mad at you, Terios for just randomly disappearing one day after the raid, assumed dead by all of us." She muttered to the picture as she pulled out another black card before tucking the wallet away. "But I believe you're taking care of Flame. Continue to do so until I'm there." Sierra dropped the black card into the bowl underneath the boy named Terios.

Both cards dissolved in a flash of black smoke as Sierra stood up and crossed her arms. "Take care," She muttered before teleporting to the other end of the hallway, not having to pay any more respects to anyone else. She didn't care for many people anyways.

Sierra glanced up at the giant black doors before her when she reappeared, with shapes of hundreds of unknown animals on it along with a picture of a forest. The room seemed to have a glowing feeling of dark energy.

Regardless, Sierra took a deep breath and knocked, her banging on the door echoed down the long hallway and Sierra took a nervous breath as the giant doors slowly creaked open, revealing nothing but blackness in front of her. Sierra swallowed and managed to hold her head high and walked inside the blackness.

…but she didn't expect a wolf to suddenly tackle her.

**Blackie *smirks while glancing at Strife and hands the letter to him* "And Terios belongs to Strife too."**

**Storm *waves with the others as Amicus gets in a car* "Bye Amicus! Take lots of pictures for us!"**

**Raeweis *as the car drives off and a moment passes* "Wait… where's Rya?!"**

**Everyone else *eyes widen * "….."**

**Chaos "Aw crap…"**

**-And don't forget to leave a review and I'll see you when the next chapter comes out! Adios!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hiya readers and welcome to the next chapter! Hope you're all liking it so far, I've been working quite hard on this story.**

**Thanks goes to my Ohana for reviewing:**

**Storm= Zap *scoffs at all of you* "Yes, I threw one of my spoons! It was the closest, non pluggable object near me!"  
Don't you worry, Storm, more Tails and Robyn moments will show up, promise you that. And yes, that **_**does**_** make Robyn an aunt *grins* I'm glad you finally saw that! I'm not sure if anyone else did but *shrugs* you know…  
*laughs* That had to be one heck of a birthday party if you're up at one in the morning still cleaning it. And I read your next chapter! It was amazing, just as I already told you but still…**

**Amicus= Yeah… that wasn't the part.  
Zap *grins* "Glad to see that someone liked my spoon throwing moment."  
And yeah, the other dimensioners are a little harsh, *laughs then becomes serious* Seriously though, but don't forget about that… it's an important thing to remember for something later on.  
Sierra "Humph… I'm a cold blooded heartless girl."  
Katherine "Suuuuure you are."  
Yes! Glad to see your liking this story as much as Day of the Dead! *grins*  
But… since you're going to be gone for awhile I think I'll just start ranting on and saying some really random things until you come back.  
So… let's see… what happened to me today? Well I do know my folks (more like my mother) are getting on my nerves *sighs* can't even write a simple chapter without getting called out to do something or be told something's not good enough. Well, that's it for me today! I will ramble to you again in the next chapter!**

**Chaos= The Englishmen… *laughs*  
Sierra *shakes head slowly and glares* "I am a cold blooded heartless girl! I have no heart! How many times must I insist this?! And I am **_**not**_** a mountain!"  
Katherine "Yes you do. You just paid your respects to the 'dead' Sierra. How can you not have a heart?"  
Sierra "Humph!"  
Sorro *looks at the bottles and nods* "Yeah! Of course I do! Who else could possibly make these?"  
Sierra *scowls and pokes Chaos back* "I happen to be older too."  
Oh my gosh, how up early were you when you posted that review, Chaos?! *sighs as Nightshade draws on your face and shakes head slowly* I want to stop Nightshade… but at the same time I don't…**

**Retto= Sierra "I do **_**not**_**! What is with you people! And don't say anything Katherine!"  
Katherine *grins* "Yes you do…!"  
Xsus *falls over with a squeak* "That's so scary…! Oh, wait, wait! I can do a Gandalf impersonation! See? Watch, watch!" *coughs and clears throat* "YOU….! Shall not… pass!" *sounds like an old man* "For I… am guarding… the ring!"  
*face palms* Xsus are you going to fight or not?  
Xsus "Hang on! We're doing a voice impersonation contest over here, even though he's gonna win!"**

**Raeweis= Zap *smirks* "And that is now two people who liked my spoon move against one so far."  
I liked that part too, since Sierra did have a heart for her old team, just like Sierra explained The Return…  
Sierra "I do not have a heart…!"  
Katherine *sighs* "Yes, yes you do. Now stop arguing. You might as well confess it!"  
*laughs* Cliffhangers: So much fun to write, horrifying to read. Well, you're going to see if Sierra's okay or not in… a few paragraphs.**

**Strife= Welcome.  
Sierra "This doesn't mean I have a heart, not even a little bit!"  
Flame *appears* "Aha! Since this is written in Strife's review I can actually say this in your face! You. Have. A. Heart. Sierra." *points at Sierra and then vanishes*  
Sierra *scowls* "I cannot believe that just happened to me."  
Katherine "And Fengari can put in the books that Flame gets a point for owning you and that you get nothing."  
Sierra "Why you…!" *tackles Katherine and the two start yelling insults at each other***

**Rya= I know! What's with that anyways, do they expect their people to just**_** know**_** everyone's age and life achievements?  
Xsus "Yep! I wouldn't like that one bit!"  
Hydro "Don't get hurt, Cream… at all."  
Cream *blinks* "Oh my, I got to responses from the same person but each had a different meaning to them…!"  
Sierra "Since I just got dissed by Flame in the review to Strife, I apparently have a heart. So I suppose this means that I do not hate you."  
Katherine "So what's the answer to her question? Does that mean you like her?"  
Sierra *scowls* "I said I didn't hate her. That should be enough of an answer."  
*watches you chase after FD down the road* Well… there she goes! Get him Rya!  
Sorro *eats the cookie happily* "Thanks! You're not so bad yourself!"  
Yeah, if the Dimension Jumpers get banned from Sonic's world… *shakes head slowly and ties not to think of what would happen then laughs* Hahaha! You have such a true point there! But that's what I hate about politics and people sometimes! It's that we do the dumbest things ever and we don't want the same thing to happen to us! *huffs angrily* Seriously people! But, I did it on purpose obviously.  
Zap "Yes the spoon. And it did the trick too." *nods***

**UFO= Should I just start rambling on here too until you review…? Hmm… maybe I should. What else happened to me today? *looks thoughtful* Well, I did try to write another chapter for this story (I'm ahead of you people) but I didn't write much... you might all finally catch up to me by the end of this week… *sighs* I hope that doesn't happen… and with all the homework they're dumping on me it might take me forever to post the next chapter! But anyways, *waves a hand* you didn't need to know that.**

**Disclaimer= *grins* here it is:  
Storm "So… whose idea was it to build a haunted house with all our evil OCs inside of it?"  
Raeweis "And heck, how did we even get in here?"  
Blackie *sees reflection and has a total Xsus moment* "Ahh! By the…?!" *sighs in relief* "Oh, thank the Light Givers…"  
FD *suddenly appears next to her* "You know, SandHeart, if you keep having those little Xsus moments then you will find yourself dead very soon."  
Blackie *falls over and glares as Rya charges FD with a bat and FD vanishes with a laugh as Rya swings at open air*  
Chaos "Talk about unexpected." *blinks*  
Retto "Quick, someone find the exit so we can get out of here."  
Strife "There's a problem to that though, we're in a circular room."  
*everyone looks around to see the hallway they were in has turned into a circle room with mirrors lining all sides of it* Rya "Okay, I sort of wish I stayed inside Amicus' suitcase and had gone on vacation with her rather than this!"  
Chaos *blinks* "Hey…! Look at the mirrors! They're showing us a message!" *all look at the mirrors as they fog up and show this message: 'Sonic and Company belong to SEGA, Strife owns some ideas for the story ****as well as Nazo a****nd shares the character Alena with Blackie , Blackie owns the Dimension Jumpers, Chaos owns Chaos and Jewel, and Storm owns Aero, Robyn, and Kelly… for now. From: Aero, FD, Jewel, Nazo, and a few others you haven't met yet'.*  
Blackie "Oh that's just creepy."  
Rya *grins while pulling out some dynamite sticks* "Hey guys, we can just blast our way out of here! Retto? May I please see your matches?"  
Strife "And you had those in your pockets and didn't tell us you had them for **_**how**_** long now?!"  
Rya "Uh…"**

Chapter Sixteen=

_"__Come people of all kinds, filled with hope and light._

_ Together we can shine the darkness away with all our might."_

Xsus stopped singing in his childish voice for a moment and glanced over in surprise as he heard the sound of something walking towards him. He had woken up not too long ago on the floor of the cell with nothing but a large bruise on his arm from being squished by the Ultimate Project. However, as he heard the footsteps come closer, Xsus jumped for the bars of his cell and gripped the cell bars that held him captive, putting an angry scowl onto his face.

"Hey!" He yelled down the stone hallway as his hands wrapped around the cool metal. "You can't keep me in here forever! I have my own rights too! I have the right to remain silent! But I'm gonna ignore that rule cause I like to talk, y'know?"

Xsus listened for a moment, lifting one of his large leaf-like ears and then practically jumped out of his skin when Aero suddenly appeared in front of him. Xsus scrambled to the back of the stone wall and fell over onto the wooden seat, that was the only thing that could act like a bed in the empty room.

Aero chuckled at Xsus' fall as he crossed his arms. "So, you must be Xsus."

Xsus sat up but couldn't respond since he was still a little dizzy when his head had collided with the wall as he fell over. He shook his head after a moment while Aero continued. "Welcome to my city, did you really think you could stop me? I bet the Ultimate Project showed you a thing or two about the dangers of trespassing. You should be grateful I didn't let it go after your friends or let it eat you."

Xsus rubbed his head while he scowled at Aero. "The others will get here soon and they'll stop you, Aero!"

"Such confidence for such a small little boy!" Aero laughed evilly. After a moment, he looked at Xsus with his expressionless black eyes. "I bet you have so many questions running through that pathetic mind of yours."

Xsus lifted a fist boldly. "I do have one question…"

Aero raised an eyebrow to show Xsus that he could continue.

"…can I have some ice cream?" Xsus finished.

Aero sighed in disbelief, as if he couldn't believe he was even having this conversation with the boy. "You may not have some ice cream. You're going to stay in there until you starve to death or until you go mad from being alone, whichever comes first. _Or_, I might feed you to the Ultimate Project before either of those two happen."

Xsus pouted. "But…!"

Aero smirked. "See you in the afterlife, Xsus." Aero suddenly seemed to dissolve in the darkness outside of Xsus' cell, leaving him all alone again. Xsus ran forward and grabbed the bars of the cell, shaking them viciously.

"You'll never keep me here for long!" Xsus cried, "Someone's going to come looking and they'll save me! Just you wait Aero, you hear me?!"

After a moment of shaking the bars frantically, Xsus took a step back, glaring at the giant bars before him before glancing back at the wooden bed/seat behind him in surprise when he heard a noise.

Then, Xsus almost fell over anime style.

_"Hello, Xsus," _A rabbit about a year younger than future Hydro or so was sitting in the chair quietly before them. She had dark brown eyes and fur with mixtures of a creamy white color in it. She wore an ocean blue colored tank top along with sneakers and black shorts. Xsus could've sworn that this misty looking rabbit was familiar, but she kept fading in and out of existence that Xsus couldn't really tell who it was.

"Uh… hi!"

The rabbit laughed quietly at Xsus and waved a hand towards the bars. _"Your friends need you, Xsus… you must escape from this place. You cannot sit here and wait for someone to save you."_

"But… Xerius always told me…"

_"Xerius has done well to raise you for this far but you're old enough to make some of your own decisions." _The rabbit said seriously, looking at Xsus in the eye. _"You destiny does not say anything about sitting in a cell waiting to be rescued. If you stay in here you will die and so will Hydro."_

"Hydro… future me…?" Xsus flattened his ears. "But he grew up, I don't want to be like him. He's all so serious and isn't very much fun."

_"Growing up in a time of war changes everyone," _The rabbit explained, waving a hand at the bars. _"If you get out of here you can stop the war and you won't ever have to worry about growing up."_

Xsus frowned as he looked at the bars.

_"Xsus, listen to me, it's time we all did something that will forever be known in history. Do not sit around and do nothing in a moment of a time of need. Your friends need you Xsus, all of them do."_

"All of them…?" Xsus looked back at the rabbit in surprise and then scowled. "Hang on, how can I trust you? I'm not even allowed to talk to strangers!"

_"I… am an old friend Xsus." _The rabbit chuckled and then waved a hand to the bars. _"You know how to freeze water, correct?"_

Xsus' face turned red and he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Uh… no, I don't. I've only done it once during the Day of the Dead but that was because Katherine needed help and was going to get killed if I didn't do something about it! So… it kind of became instinct."

The rabbit laughed quietly. _"I'm sure you can do it. It just takes lots of concentration. If Hydro can do it, so can you. I taught Hydro how to freeze water in the future, I can teach you too."_

Xsus nodded and then glanced at the bars before him before glancing back at the rabbit. "But…! There's no water here!"

_"No water? Xsus, there's water all around you. In the cracks of the stone, in your body, in the air, it's all around you. You have to call for it first."_ The rabbit said.

Xsus' frown grew and then suddenly vanished, replaced by a grin. "Well, if that's the case…! Come here water!" Xsus lifted a hand into the air and the ground suddenly trembled, from the cracks from the stone floor, water slowly started leaking out and started filling up the bottom of the cell while the rabbit smiled at the shocked look on Xsus' face.

_"Good job Xsus, now use the water to slice at the bars."_

Xsus lifted a hand and concentrated for a moment until the water flowed into his hands, slowing forming into a katana made of water. As Xsus concentrated further and slowly tightened his grip around the handle, the water suddenly solidified, turning into an ice katana. Xsus grinned and started jumping around the room, his boots splashed in the water that was turning into a mini lake at his feet. "I did it! I did it! I froze the water without it being an accident! I did it! I did it! Hey lady…!" He turned to look at the rabbit and froze when he saw that the rabbit wasn't there anymore, just a vacant chair.

Xsus frowned and started to stroke a pretend beard. "I wondered who that nice lady was…! Ah! Oh well! I have to save my friends!" Xsus turned to the bars and sliced at them with his katana, slicing all the bars in half like it was as easy as going for a stroll in the park. He grinned as he stepped over the bars, standing in front of the flooding hallways in the prison of Central City.

"Ha ha!" Xsus said with a grin and then he ran down the hallway to his left, his feet splashing in the water that he had called forth.

-XXXXXXX-

Sierra yelped as she got tackled by the wolf, it wasn't a Mobian wolf, but it was the real thing with four paws. Its midnight black fur blended into the darkness as it barred its sharp fangs in her face, breathing hot air into her face. Its eyes glowed red for a moment before turning into the black color of a mindless animal. Sierra flinched as it reared back to strike her and closed her eyes tightly.

"Dareon …! That's enough!" A dark voice that brought chills up Sierra's spine suddenly said. The wolf froze and then growled in Sierra's face before jumping off of her and dissolving into darkness before her very eyes.

Sierra sat up slowly, feeling a pain in the back of her head as she rubbed the back of her head. She glanced into the darkness before standing onto her feet and bowing deeply towards the darkness before her as a pair of scarlet red eyes appeared in the darkness then slowly faded away. "My lord…" She said quietly.

"Sierra, Sierra, my, my, it's been _months_ since I've last seen you." The voice that called the wolf to back off spoke. As it spoke, the temperature in the room dropped and the voice sounded like it belonged to a man around the age of nineteen or twenty.

Sierra said nothing, keeping her bow in position.

"What are you here for?" The voice in the darkness asked with a mocking tone in its voice.

"My lord… in the other dimension ARK projects have come and are trying to take control of it. If not stopped, they will eventually come to this dimension and kill everyone here as well. I was wondering if you, my lord, could come and help remove of them." Sierra said, still not looking up into the darkness before her.

"You need my help for distributing of such a pathetic race of creatures? They're just a bunch of projects." The voice chuckled.

"My lord, you of all people should know that projects…"

"Do not remind me of my failures, Sierra," The voice suddenly snapped, shutting her off. The voice made a growling sound and suddenly red eyes appeared before fading away again. "I have no need to come to your dimension and deal with a few pests you cannot handle yourself! I will not lose my dignity to fight alongside a _Light_ _Giver_ to try to save the other dimension that I have no care or use for anymore!" As he said the word Light Giver, it was more like the voice spat the name out through clenched teeth.

Sierra flattened her ears and looked up at the darkness before her. "But, my lord…!"

"No buts Sierra, I will not help you. This is a fight you must handle on your own. I have no use for the other dimension, and I have no need to deal with another project, leave."

"Y-yes… my lord," Sierra dipped her head towards the Lord of Darkness before standing up tall and leave the room without looking back. As she walked out, the black doors with the markings on them slowly closed behind her. As soon as she was gone, the owner of the voice walked down from steps within the blackness, revealing it to be the younger version of Father Darkness. Unlike his future self, this time's Father Darkness looked much, much, darker and relaxed, if one ignored the irritated look on his face.

Father Darkness spat angrily after a moment. "Work with Light Givers to stop a bunch of failed, worthless projects?! She might as well ask me what my favorite color is! Humph… there is no logical way I will assist her in doing such a pointless thing. Am I right, Dareon?"

The howl of a wolf answered his question and Father Darkness smirked before dissolving into the darkness.

-XXXXXXX-

Sonic paced back and forth in the living room with everyone else gathered around him, except Sierra, Chaos, Katherine, Maria, and Shadow. He was starting to get edgy, the sky was almost black outside and Sonic couldn't help but get a nagging feeling that this night was going to be a _very_ long night.

Suddenly, Hydro let out a choking sound next to Robyn as she talked to Tails and Cosmo excitedly. Everyone turned to him surprise as he fell to his knees, with his hands on the ground, breathing heavily. They could only watch as Hydro suddenly flickered like a candle flame, in and out of existence.

"Hydro!" Sorro cried, he ran up to the cat and Hydro gripped the ground while panting. The others gathered around the cat instantly until Sorro stood up with a scowl. "Hey! Hey! Back off people! Give him some space…!"

Suddenly, a flash of light and Zap, Windy, Katherine, Chaos, Shadow, and Maria appeared from the light. When they saw the group gathering around a flickering Hydro, Zap instantly took a step forward and everyone took a respectable step back as he walked up and bent down next to Hydro. "Xsus… what's wrong?"

"You weren't kidding when you said there was a future Xsus…" Windy muttered to Katherine next to her.

Chaos took a step forward to help Zap out but was stopped when Shadow lifted a hand, stopping him. "I think he's got it this time, Chaos."

Chaos gave Shadow an irritated look but stopped when Maria gave him a look of her own.

Hydro gritted his teeth as he looked up at Zap. "Z-Zap…!"

"What's wrong?"

"X-Xsus… past Xsus is in t-trouble…" Hydro said through gritted teeth.

"I know the perfect cure to stop you from fading in and out for now," Zap said with a smirk on his face after a moment of looking thoughtful. He glanced over at a nearby rabbit. "Cream, do you mind coming here for a moment?"

"Yes, Mr. Zap!" Cream said cheerfully as Hydro paled.

"Zap…! I…! I…!" Hydro seemed to be shrinking as Cream got closer and sat down next to Zap.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Zap?"

Zap smirked as he gently put a hand on Cream's head. "I want you to do this… to our friend Xsus here."

"To Hydro?" Cream frowned as he pointed at Hydro as he suddenly let out a gasp, like there wasn't enough oxygen in the room and began panting heavily.

Zap nodded and gently removed his hand from Cream's head as Cream gently reached out and touched Hydro's head and he shrank away from her touch, like it burned. Tears were forming in the corners of Hydro's eyes as Cream rested her hand on the top of his head.

"C-Cream…?" Hydro whispered after a moment.

"Yes, Mr. Hydro?" Cream asked worriedly, like he was going to attack her at any given moment.

"I-I'm so, so sorry… I couldn't save you…" with that, Hydro passed out cold on the ground and stopped flickering like a candle flame.

Cream let out a surprised shriek. "I killed him!"

Zap started laughing as he stood up, crossing his arms as he did so. "Don't worry Cream, you didn't kill him."

Cream looked at Zap. "I-I didn't?"

Zap waved a hand at her, "You didn't." Zap then turned towards Sonic. "So, what's this I hear? ARK projects are attacking this dimension?"

Sonic laughed and then nodded. "Yeah… here look, we're still waiting for one more person so I'll explain…" With that, Sonic quickly explained the story of what happened, from the G.U.N. mission to this very moment. When he was finished, Zap frowned to himself then nodded.

"Hmm… so Sierra went to get Father Darkness? I put fifty rings on the counter that he isn't coming." Zap said seriously. He glanced back at the unconscious Hydro for a moment before looking at Sonic again. "Also… I don't think Hydro's going to wake up soon enough. We're probably going to have to leave him here with the younger ones."

Amy sighed in relief. "Oh thank heavens, I was worried we'd have to bring Cream along into the fight!"

Cream pouted. "But Miss Amy! I can fight!"

Espio shook his head. "We don't want you kids to be hurt. A fight like this doesn't need children in it."

Charmy pouted, "Aw Espio! I'm not a kid though!"

Xerius glanced at Sorro. _"This counts you too, Sorro."_

"But… dad…!" Sorro started to complain but stopped when Xerius lifted a finger.

Sorro pouted. "Fine…!"

"So," Robyn said with a frown. "Hydro, Sorro, Cream, Cheese, and Charmy are staying behind?"

Sonic sighed and then nodded. "I guess so…!"

Then, Sierra appeared in the middle of the group. The look on her face was similar to that of annoyance and everyone instantly knew that Father Darkness wouldn't be coming with them to the fight. She crossed her arms and looked away as Sonic walked up to her. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Sierra said with a growl.

Sonic shook his head slowly while looking at her and pulled out Knuckles' Chaos Emerald. "Alright people, let's ride, Chaos Control!" With that, the entire group disappeared in a flash of bright light, leaving the kids and an unconscious Hydro behind.

**And so, it seems to be that the battle has begun… but what will happen next? Please review… so I can get out of this nightmarish haunted house with the others…**

**Storm "If you light the dynamite in here you'll blow us up too though!"**

**Rya "Well then, you gotta better idea?"**

**Chaos "Can't we just Chaos Control our way out of here…?"**

**Blackie "Does anyone have a Chaos Emerald then that they haven't show the rest of us yet…?"**

**NOTES= So, let's see the following people have updated the next chapter of their awesome stories so if you haven't read them yet, please do: Chaotic Hedgehog (Space Colony ARK), BlackStormNomad (A Difficult Reunion), and Maraya Prower (Rouge).**


	17. Chapter 17

**FD "Hello readers and welcome to your demise."**

**Zap "Shut it, dark head, and let's get to the point of why we're here."**

**Windy "So why did the author put us original OCs to put up the chapter anyways?"**

**Zap *shrugs* "Who knows? But let's get it up since she asked us to. Thanks goes to the Ohana for reviewing!"**

**Storm= I know! That boy is a pain in the neck...  
And yes! Sibling moments! Those are so much fun to read/write! Hope you like this chapter just as much!**

**Retto= Sierra *glares* "I DO NOT have a-"  
Katherine "Yes you do. Don't argue."  
Anyways, *takes the emerald and grins* With yours and Strife's emeralds we can get out of this nightmare easily!  
Xsus *pouts* "Noooo! Alright! Here I go!" *teleports behind you and kicks you before doing a hamstring backwards to jump out of the way if you do an instant attack back***

**Chaos= You and me both, Chaos.  
And as long as you won that fight, right?! That's all that matters! *grins*  
Yes! You caught it! Hydro and Xsus are technically the same person and if something happens to Xsus then it will effect Hydro!  
*watches you scrub the pen marks off your face and turns to Nightshade while struggling not to laugh* I recommend finding Katherine, Chaos, or Maria at this point.**

**Strife= Let me see the emerald! Now we can get out of here with the Soul Emearld and Retto's emerald too, thank the Alvainians!  
Terrarock was a hedgehog, and the bird...well it was a black bird and Nazo's a white bird. Unless Nazo went through some kind of weird transformation then... no.**

**Raeweis= Yaya! Glad you liked the ice cream moment, there are more of those to come! *Grins then scowls* And yes. That is the entire reason on why we all hate FD. Caudex.**

**Rya= *applauds* And that's just amazing. You know much more about them then I do.  
Cream *smiles* "Thanks Miss Rya!"  
Sierra "I AM NOT A SOFTIE!"  
Katherine *laughs* "Okay, now I agree with you. She's a softie."  
Sierra "I AM NOT!"  
Katherine "And really proud. You're sounding like Flame."  
Sierra *glares*  
*laughs* Okay, that's true. Sorro is the perfect example of how late it is to stop the process of Half Breeds.  
Zap *looks thoughtful and pulls out a laptop from thin air* "Interesting observations... I must check this out and find out the meaning of this!"  
Fixing the fourth wall is on our long lists of things we need to fix. See? *hands you ridiculously long list*  
Xsus *eyes light up* "Really?! Okay then!" *nods with a grin*  
FD "..."  
*laughs* And you got another point there. All they have for protection is each other and an unconscious future Xsus.  
Windy "What?! I don't have any information! If anyone does... it's Katherine."  
Katherine "Ooooh! I see how it is! Blame it on me, why don't you?!"  
Windy "How else could you be so quiet?"  
Katherine "I have nothing to hide!"  
Windy "Uh huh..."  
Okay, enough you two. We need to get to the story at some point, do we not? *laughs***

**Amicus and UFO= Well until SOMEONE reviews, *glances at UFO* and until you get back from vacation *glances at Amicus* I might as well just ramble to you two. Hmm... so what happened to me today? Uh... well I did have a random conversation with my sister, since we do have that similar sense of humor. People mistake us for twins all the time. *shakes head slowly then laughs* But anyways, we were arguing about useless things at the dinner table again and talking in different accents just for the heck of it. The typical day of BlackSandHeart.**

**Disclaimer=  
Retto "It's quite simple actually, you just sit there with a fishing pole and then wait for the fish to bite, and then pull it out!"  
Chaos "Alright then, let's try it out!"  
Raeweis *squints at the water as she stands near the edge of the lake* "But... it's so... green looking."  
Rya *notices something floating in the water* "Oh cool! I think it's a bottled message!"  
Strife "Dare you to go get it."  
Blackie and Rya *grins after looking at each other and runs out onto the dock before jumping in the water*  
Storm *runs up to the end of the dock, laughing* "What the heck were you two thinking?!"  
Rya *throws a glass bottle onto the prier before climbing out, dripping wet* "I think I just got ourselves a disclaimer!"  
Storm *opens the bottle and pulls a letter out of it with a frown, reads it out loud* "'Lucky you, you found me. A note in the bottle with a disclaimer you see. Sonic and friends belongs to SEGA, BlackSandHeart owns the Dimension Jumpers, Chaos own Chaos, Strife owns some ideas as well as sharing the character Alena with Blackie, and I own Aero, Kelly, and Robyn. You better hurry to the owner of this paper, or you'll find out that I am the real taker... of all your belongings'."  
Blackie *climbs onto the prier, laughing* "Well that rhymed well."  
Strife "The taker of all your belongings...?"  
Retto *checks pockets then frowns* "Well... my matches are missing."**

**NOTE= Well, if you're the kind of reader that likes to get absorbed into your stories then stop. Right. There. Yeah you, well, at the beginning part of this chapter go find a sad song, like: My Immortal by Evanescence or something. And then you can read on.  
But if you don't want to, fine *scoffs* I see how it is *suddenly laughs* I'm just kidding. Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter Seventeen=

Hydro opened his eyes slowly and found himself in a pitch black room. He sat up with a jolt and looked around wildly, half expect the Chaos water element to be somewhere around but when he saw that it was nothing, he took a shaky breath, slowly sitting up and looking around the blackness.

Was he dead…? Was this what it was like to disappear forever? Maybe he'd find Mephiles in here. With that terrific thought, future Xsus slowly got to his feet when the image around him suddenly changed.

As soon as Hydro looked around the once black room, he felt dread course through him. He was standing seven years in the future, in the middle of Station Square. He looked around wildly and then backed up against a nearby wall when he heard voices. He glanced over to where the voices were and let out a choking sound.

Two figures were slowly moving through Station Square, both were laughing quietly at some unknown topic. One was a light brown colored rabbit and the other was a golden colored cat. Hydro ducked into the shadows as the figures walked by.

"N-no!" Future Xsus growled to himself. "Of all nightmares why bring back this one…?!"

No one answered him, but Hydro expected that.

The cat looked over at the rabbit with a smile. "Hey Cream, how about a quick search through the city? Whoever comes back here the fastest gets to make the other dinner…?"

"Xsus…!" Cream scolded but a light was shining in her eyes. "We both know that you _want_ to make dinner!"

The Xsus from a few months ago, in Hydro's time, grinned. "Well, of course I do! I can't make it for any other beautiful rabbit now could I?"

Cream blushed and then laughed as Xsus leaned towards her face with a grin on his. "Xsus…! Cut it out!"

"Oh, come on Cream, please? I've been dying for a race for months since Sonic doesn't like running much anymore!" Xsus said with a laugh.

Cream shook her head and then sighed in defeat. "Alright Xsus, I'll race you. On your mark… get set… go!" The rabbit shot forward down the streets of Station Square, heading northward while Xsus turned south and pulled out an icy box out of his pocket.

"Should I ask her today…?" Xsus muttered to himself as he looked at it and slowly opened it to look at the ring inside of it.

Hydro felt tears slowly forming in his eyes as he looked at his past self. "It's too late you fool…!" He muttered as the tears slipped down his cheeks.

Both cats' ears suddenly twitched when they heard a scream, a familiar scream that both of them couldn't ever ignore, "CREAM!" Xsus yelled as he turned around and took to the skies, flying northward. Hydro dropped onto his knees and stared silently at the ground as he heard the sound of a battle breaking out from far off.

"I c-couldn't save you…" Hydro muttered and he lowered his head, closed his eyes, and flattened his ears.

"Cream…! Cream…!" Xsus yelled and Hydro stole a moment to look up… and instantly regretted it. He flinched but couldn't pry his eyes off the scene before him, since he seemed to teleport right to where the tragedy had begun.

Xsus was holding the broken form of Cream in his arms, tears slipping down his cheeks as he looked at her. He gently turned her head for him to face him as Cream smiled weakly. "Don't worry… about me… Xsus… I'll be fine… with the others…"

Xsus held onto Cream even tighter. "C-Cream…! Don't go, please! It'll never be the same without you…!"

Cream lifted a hand weakly and put it to Xsus' lips, shushing him. "Shhh… just remember that this isn't your fault."

"If I didn't offer to run around Station Square…!"

"Shhh… it's not your fault."

Xsus said nothing as Cream smiled faintly then leaned upward, kissing his cheek, making Xsus' face turn bright red in embarrassment as Cream settled down in Xsus' arms once more.

"Goodbye… I… I…" Cream looked down for a moment, feeling her face turned red for a final time. "I'll always… love you, Xsus."

Xsus swallowed, his face turning redder. "And… so will I." He said and he could only watch as Cream went slack in his arms, resulting in more tears dripping down Xsus' face and falling onto Cream's silent body.

"Cream…?! CREAM!" Xsus lifted his head to the cloudy sky and wailed her name up to it.

Hydro closed his eyes that were filled with wet tears and finally looked away from the image as his world started spinning, and all went black again.

-XXXXXXXX- **(AN- if it makes you feel better, I practically cried at the part above, but that might be because I was writing to very depressing music…)**

Sonic looked at the city seriously with the others gathered all around him. He glanced to his left and then his right, seeing everyone sitting silently in the bushes outside of the city. This brought back the blissful memories of his time in the land of Darrius way back when… but things weren't as dire as they were now.

Sierra sat next to him, staying unnaturally quiet. Sonic glanced over at her with a frown on his face while the others talked to each other quietly, trying to get rid of the nervous feeling that this was the end for all of them. "Hey… are you okay?"

"I- I'm fine," Sierra looked away.

Sonic frowned and looked at her suspiciously. "You know, if Father Darkness said something…"

"He didn't, he just told me that he didn't want to come so he wouldn't lose his dignity," Sierra muttered. "It's not that I'm worried about though."

"Then what _are_ you worried about?"

"What… what if we don't survive this, Sonic? Then what will happen to all of us?" As she spoke, Sonic noticed the icy cold feel in her eyes starting to melt. "I mean, they all look up to you, Sonic, and because of it, what will you do if no one comes out of this alive? What will we do if _you_ don't make it out of this…?"

"Are you worried about me?"

Sierra's face turned red. "About you? Ha! Of course not!"

Sonic rolled his eyes and Sierra looked away quickly, making the situation become awkward for a moment until Sierra sighed in defeat, glancing at Sonic again. "Maybe I am… just a little…"

Sonic glanced over at her and Sierra quickly looked away. "I said a little. That doesn't mean it's enough that I'll be following you during this fight!"

Sonic chuckled. "Alright, just a little bit. Well, _I'll_ be following you around to make sure you don't do anything you'll regret, Sierra."

Sierra glanced at Sonic suspiciously.

The blue blur looked away. "I mean, in the future, you're dead right? Well… it'd be a… pity… if a great fighter like you… ah… died."

Sierra laughed quietly and Sonic looked at her in surprise, he had never heard Sierra laugh before. It was a quiet laugh, but it was still a laugh nonetheless. Sierra looked at Sonic as soon as she was done laughing, a smile faint on her lips. "You're still cute when you stutter."

Sonic laughed weakly while he rubbed the back of his head and Sierra smiled faintly again. After a moment, Sonic spoke. "Hey Sierra…?"

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if you could… ah… want to…"

"Um, pardon me for interrupting but, Sonic?" A new voice asked and Sonic glanced back, trying to hide his annoyance as he glared at Knuckles.

"What's up, Knucklehead?" Sonic asked with a faint growl hidden in his throat.

"Um… we're waiting for you Sonic, give us the call and we'll charge into this. You are the one leading us, you know." Knuckles said.

Sonic's face turned red when he noticed the others were looking at him expectantly. "Oh… right! Um, sorry guys. Alright, well here's the plan, Tails?"

Tails nodded as he stood next to Robyn, Kelly, and Cosmo. "Alright, here's the plan: Xerius, Rouge, and Espio will go into the depths of the city and look for Xsus since he's the entire reason why we're here. The rest of us will hold off the ARK experiments until we find out where Xsus is. Espio, Rouge, and Xerius will then save Xsus, and then we'll attack the ARK projects with full force."

Rouge put a hand on her hip. "So, you just want me, Xie, and Espio to just locate Xsus' location and save him?"

Tails nodded. "That's right, and while you're at it you might want to see where they're keeping this Ultimate Project too. I don't think Aero will take out such a big monster to attack us at first so if you have time, take out that project too, but be careful!"

Xerius, Espio, and Rouge nodded and Tails waved a hand at them. "Alright you guys better go, be quiet though! We don't want Aero to know we're attacking until it's too late!"

Xerius nodded and slowly floated into the air with Rouge following him while Espio vanished from view. The three of them then turned and headed towards the city (or at least two of them did, no one knew if Espio went after them too but they could only guess he did).

Tails turned to the rest of the group. "And now the rest of us head for the city."

"How are we going to charge in?" Katherine asked and everyone looked next to her as she stood close to both of her brothers, Maria, Windy, and Zap. She frowned as everyone looked at her and she turned back to wave a hand at the clearing behind them that was between them and the city. "Come on, we can't just charge in there. They'll see us coming _long_ before we reach the outskirts of the city."

Tails frowned and nodded. "She's right, if we charge in there head on, they can stop us easily!"

Sonic frowned and then glanced at Sierra for a moment before turning his attention to the others. "Then maybe… we can just walk up to them."

"Like in the movies?" Chaos asked with a grin and when everyone looked at him, he shrugged. "You know how in movies the good guys and the bad guys have a big standoff and then attack each other?"

Maria laughed, "That's a weird idea."

Sonic shrugged. "Well, it's better than nothing, we can't just Chaos Control into the center of the city, the ARK projects might be spread out and it'll give Xerius, Rouge, and Espio a easier time to pinpoint Xsus' location without a bunch of projects running around."

Sierra frowned and looked at the city. "That's the dumbest idea I've heard of in my entire life… but it just might work. If a horde of Light Givers just walked up to the city, I know Followers of Darkness for miles around will gather around to see what's going to happen."

Zap frowned. "So, we're just going to walk up there…?"

Sonic grinned. "Na, I got this, just wait for my signal." With that, Sonic walked out into the open while the others could only watch and stare as he walked out into the clearing. The grass all around him was a yellowish color that flowed in the wind reached up to his waist and the dark sky above him was covered with clouds, blocking the view of the stars.

As Sonic walked forward, he tried very, _very_ hard not to look back and he could feel Sierra's eyes burning into his back as he stopped halfway between the forest and the city. As he looked into the depths of the city, he could see eyes lighting up on the sides of the building and he knew the ARK projects could see him. It brought chills down his spine as he looked into the eyes that glowed different colors: some were red, some green, some yellow and all glowed in the dark.

Sonic took a deep breath. "AERO!" He yelled into the city and listened as his voice echoed around the clearing, the forest behind him, and in the city itself. He could see the glowing eyes glance at each other before all faded away entirely, giving Sonic even more chills as a cold, summer breeze flowed through him. Sonic watched a green leaf float by his face and as soon as the leaf was gone, a figure suddenly appeared out of thin air before him.

The black hedgehog before him had green stripes running through his quills as he slowly looked up at Sonic. As he looked at the blue blur, hundreds of eyes reappeared behind him, twice as many as there were before. The black hedgehog's eyes glowed black as he chuckled quietly. "Yes, Sonic?"

"Aero," Sonic growled. "You better surrender if you know what's best for you."

"Me? Surrender to the likes of you? Goodness, I must be mad if I ever do such a thing." Aero chuckled. He waved a gloved hand at Sonic. "Why don't you surrender, Sonic? I could try to spare all your little friends, but I can defiantly spare the cute grey fox, but that's beside the point."

"You leave Robyn alone," Sonic growled, lifting a fist angrily. "Why would we ever surrender and let you destroy the world? I know what you're going to do Aero, and I have proof from the future about it too!"

Aero laughed. "My, my! Know my plans now, do we? Well, you can't do much about it now can you?"

Sonic growled under his breath. He spoke louder so the others in the forest could hear him. "This is your last chance Aero, surrender now or you're going to regret this."

"I think _you_ are going to regret this," Aero chuckled as he lifted a fist that was glowing with black energy. With his other hand, he grabbed Sonic by the neck and Sonic let out a gagging sound as he slowly lifted him into the air. "I think today, our first death should be you, Sonic the hedgehog!"

Behind him, the ARK projects in the city started cheering loudly.

"DIE!" Aero roared and he brought the fist glowing with black energy towards Sonic…

…and punched nothing but thin air as Sonic suddenly disappeared from his grip. He glanced around in confusing and then turned to his left angrily when he saw Sierra reappear with Sonic leaning on her heavily, panting.

Sierra's icy blue eyes narrowed as she held Sonic up. "You will die tonight Aero. Mark my words."

Aero growled angrily. "Sierra! You really think you can stop me by yourself! I have a full army! All you have is a blue hedgehog."

Sierra smirked as she flicked her hands, revealing her sword. She pointed it at Aero as her ice blue eyes flashed for a moment as the black blade reflected the ARK project's glowing eyes. "Good thing I'm not alone, am I? Get him!"

And from the woods, the rest of the team shot out to attack.

-XXXXXXXX-

Sierra gently put Sonic on the ground before tuning and jumped at Aero, lifting her sword and swinging with all her might as Aero ducked, barely missing the attack as she dropped down onto the ground. Sierra glanced over at Aero, the wind blowing some of her black fur that acted like hair into her face and she blew it away angrily before standing up taller as the others ran into the city around them.

Sonic struggled to his feet and then looked at the city, seeing the hundreds of glowing eyes starting to attack his friends. Tails spun his tails and launched himself into the air, Vector lifted his fists proudly, Zap's hands started sparking with electricity, and all this happened as the ARK projects began to attack them with their deranged hands or bodies.

Sonic glanced over and blinked in surprise as Robyn slid to a stop next to him, looking at him with worry in her green eyes. "Sonic? Are you okay?"

Sonic showed Robyn a grin as he rubbed his throat since he could still feel Aero's tight grip around it. "I'm fine, don't you worry about me!"

Robyn turned to face Aero and then looked at Sonic. "I'll take on Aero, you get Sierra out of the way of the fight. I don't want her to get hurt by the vampire."

"Hang on," Sonic frowned. "Aero's a vampire?"

Robyn nodded. "He was an experiment that was injected with vampire blood and it… well… turned him into a vampire." Robyn placed a hand on the necklace she was wearing around her neck while looking at the ground sadly. "He turned me into a vampire too… and that's why I must fight him. Sierra won't be able to do much to Aero by herself and I want to fight Aero on my own. I don't want any help."

Sonic frowned and then nodded. "Alright, if you say so, you sure you'll be okay?"

Robyn nodded. "I'm positive." With that, she turned onto Aero as he dodged another slice from Sierra's sword as she jumped at the hedgehog once gain. "Aero! That's enough!"

Aero froze and glanced over at Robyn, standing up straight as Sierra slid to a stop not too far away from Sonic. She lifted her sword and glanced from Robyn to Aero, as if debating on whether or not would be a good time to attack again.

"Ah! The rose in the garden…" Aero said with a smirk on his face. He licked his lips after a moment. "You look like you are a tasty morsel!"

Robyn growled angrily, "Don't you dare touch me. I'm here to finish you Aero."

Aero shrugged. "Well, if you insist…!" He suddenly jumped at Robyn but she easily side stepped it, concentrating on a blast of purple energy that shot up and hit Aero in the face, causing him to flip backwards and slide on the ground. Sierra jumped forward to attack but stopped when Sonic suddenly seemed to appear and grab her arm.

Sierra glanced back at Sonic with a questioning look, but said nothing.

"Robyn can handle him, come on, let's help the others." Sonic said to her quietly and Sierra nodded and they both charged towards the city.

Aero watched them go and smirked at Robyn. "You truly think you can stop me by yourself? You might've stood a chance with Sierra but now you are doomed!"

Robyn growled angrily to herself. "I am not going to let you win, Aero. Not now, not here, not ever!" She then charged at Aero, lifting her fists angrily.

-XXXXXXXX-

"And that…!" Zap said as he dropped onto an ARK experiment's head and glanced back up at Tails as the fox punched an experiment that tried to jump at him in the air, "Is why you never use star energy to power up any machines."

Tails nodded. "Ah…! Because I thought if you used the power of a super nova it'd never backfire!"

Zap laughed to himself. "That'd be nice with its unlimited power source but no, it's not a good idea. It causes all your machines to backfire." Suddenly, Zap vanished in a flash of light as the ARK project Mallet threw its arm out and it stretched out the mallet. It would've hit Zap's head but he dodged it as he teleported behind Mallet, lifting his sword and slicing downwards, cutting through Mallet like he was made of nothing and took a step back as oil instead of blood spewed out at him.

"Yuck, talk about needing an oil change," Zap chuckled to himself as Tails dropped down next to him.

"Are you two done nerd bonding?" Windy asked as she appeared in front of them with a scowl on her face. "It's time you two talked less about super novas and did more stopping ARK projects."

Zap laughed weakly. "Sorry, Wind."

Windy rolled her eyes and then ducked as an ARK project was thrown over her head. She stood up and glared over at Chaos the hedgehog. "Hey! Careful!"

Chaos laughed as Katherine appeared next to him with Shadow, Alena, and Maria. "Sorry, Windy!"

Windy rolled her eyes as Katherine turned towards a tall ARK project that was the size of a real grizzly bear, so it towered high above their heads, letting out a roar before looking down at them. Half of its head was made of metal and the other half was out of real fur. Katherine looked at Shadow and Chaos. "Anyone remember this big guy?"

Shadow shrugged. "I wasn't around when Gerald made these. Keep in mind I was the last experiment, sister."

Katherine nodded. "Okay, true and Chaos was the second to last so…"

Maria laughed. "I don't remember him either, all I saw was Projects Aero, Shadow, Chaos, and Night!"

Alena frowned and then pointed at the bear. "Are you done messing around? We have to defeat this monster."

Shadow smirked as he glanced at Alena. "Don't worry, we'll get him."

Alena's face turned red as she looked away while Chaos lifted his hands towards the grizzly. "Chaos Blast!" He yelled and a blast of golden chaos energy smacked the bear in the face as he lifted a paw the size of Maria's head. The blast hit the bear and caused it to crash into a nearby building as Katherine spun around and sliced forward with her sword while a project from behind started attacking.

Alena turned towards a project that looked like a bit like a tiger as she lifted her fists as the tiger growled. Shadow glanced over as she spread her arms out while closing her eyes, and then transformed into a puddle on the ground.

Shadow's eyes widened in shock as the puddle of water slowly grew in size and went right between the tiger's legs and then formed into the nine tailed fox once more. She lifted a hand and pointed it at the tiger, bearing her teeth, "Chaos Spear!" She then blasted the tiger into smithereens before turning towards another project while Shadow's eyes stayed wide.

Katherine grinned at Shadow, trying to hide a cocky grin on her face. "You think she's cute?"

Shadow nodded and Katherine snickered until Shadow realized what he did and glared at Katherine.

Katherine laughed while waving her hands at Shadow, "Calm down, calm down, Shadow! I was just kidding! I won't tell a soul you suddenly take fancy in a fox that can turn into water."

Shadow gave Katherine a harder look as Maria and Chaos turned towards the two. "Wait," Chaos frowned. "What just happened?"

Katherine shook her head. "Don't worry about it Chaos, we're in the middle of a fight, let's focus on the task at hand."

Chaos frowned, but nodded, giving Shadow a suspicious look as the family turned and charged at another tall experiment.

-XXXXXXXX-

"This way," Espio suddenly reappeared in front of Rouge and Xerius from thin air in the depths of the government building. The place obviously reeked of Aero since he put a few pictures up of random things everywhere, including himself and Robyn (which made the three wonder where the heck he got _that_ picture). However, they were now underneath the building, finding themselves in the prison underneath the building.

Xerius glanced around as they followed Espio from the darkness and all sneaked down silently down another hallway. As soon as they reached the edge of it, Rouge lifted a hand to say to the others silently that it was her turn to scout ahead for more projects. The others nodded as Rouge peaked out from around the corner and then snuck away.

There was a moment of silence until Espio glanced at Xerius. "Is she the mother?"

Xerius gave Espio a confused look.

"You know what I'm talking about, Xerius."

Xerius sighed in defeat. _"I believe she is. Sorro almost said something about it, but I stopped him. I haven't dared to tell her of my suspicions yet, I don't want Sorro to be blocked out of existence if things become awkward…"_

Espio sighed. "She probably already knows."

_"I've figured as much."_

Espio became quiet, thinking about what Xerius said.

_"Well, what about you, Espio?"_

Espio glanced at Xerius with a frown. "What?"

_"What do you think happened to yourself in the future? Heck, some things I wonder about what future Xsus says. We just all gave up after they slowly killed off the ones we loved. It proves how close we are to each other..."_

Espio sighed. "It might not be a bad thing with all of us being close together. You and I are quite similar, Xerius. Both of us are silent and wait for things to play out on their own, but at the same time we're very different. You don't like trusting people while I can see who can and cannot be trusted."

Xerius growled but said nothing, he knew the comment was true. He never trusted anyone since his sister… Xerius stopped himself before he could continue.

"But," Espio continued. "It's not a bad thing. We cannot do everything on our own. Sometimes we have to work with others to accomplish our goals. Do not regret making friends, Xerius. That's the first step you can make to your downfall."

Xerius crossed his arms and nodded, _"Very well. If you insist that's the case then it must be true."_

Rouge suddenly flew around the corner. "Close is clear up ahead," She said to them seriously as she jerked a finger down the hall. "Come on, let's keep looking for Xsus."

Espio and Xerius nodded and then followed Rouge down the hallway.

**And there is the next chapter! Okay, I might as well say it right here and now, it's going to take me awhile to upload the next chapter...**

**Katherine "Aw what?! Are you serious?!"**

**Windy "Come on SandHeart, you've come all this way just to stop?!"**

**Me "Stop?! HECK NO! I'd die before giving up on a story! But, what I'm saying is that I need more time. The next few chapters have a few mistakes in them so I need to work on them to fix it up. So, y'know, it might take me awhile to upload again. So, keep close and keep an eye out for the next chapter of This is War... that'll hopefully come out again soon. So, please leave a review too before you go!"**

**And some notes: Strife the Dark 152 put up the next chapter to his story (Sonic the Hedgehog: the Darkness Incarnate) and Chaotic Hedgehog put another chapter up in his story too (Space Colony ARK). So, check out those stories too and I'll see you around! Hopefully I can upload soon, for your guys' sake but adiós!**

***vanishes in a flash of light***


	18. Chapter 18

**Hiya readers! Sorry for the delay... and it'll continue. The next chapter(s) still need some fixing up. But, as I promised before, I'll try to update as soon as possible!**

**Thanks to my Ohana and another guest reviewer for reviewing!**

**Alright, if any of you wanted to know what song I wrote to for writing the sad part at the beginning of the chapter (if you're not wondering then just skip this) I chose Hope Falls from Guild Wars 2 by Jeremy Soule- and don't expect any words from it since it's from the video game soundtrack. Funny note: I actually grew up to songs without words in them... and it wasn't until a few years ago until I started listening to songs with words in them...**

**Retto= So you did listen to a sad song! And I just listened to it... it is sad... just like the scene was... *sighs*  
So yes! Zap and Tails going all nerd during a war! It's awesome!  
Xsus, against the rules.  
Xsus *laughs while face turns red* "Oh yeah, sorry...!"  
You're lucky Fengari isn't judging this, Xsus.  
Xsus "I know, I know!" *lifts hands out and stops all water moving through the air* "Alright, I'm back Retto! Your move!" *grins***

**Rya= Rya, the only reason on how I put up with your awesomeness throughout all of the reviews during Day of the Dead is because I get just as nutty as you sometimes *laughs* You get a medal too for putting up with me!  
Actually *laughs weakly* I haven't read too many of the comics. I've only read... I don't know how many. Enough to know who Scourge is and that Fiona needs to be thrown out the window.  
Sierra *blinks slowly* "...I am not a softie."  
Flame *appears and sighs as she walks up and points at Sierra* "YES. YOU. ARE."  
Sierra *sighs angrily* "Fine! Fine! Fine!"  
True true! Although, in a few years in the future everyone's too busy flipping out about Aero taking over the world to bother thinking of Dimension Jumping *laughs*  
Yes! I'm nailing you on the disclaimer! When people are new it's hard to fit their personality into the disclaimer because I'm like: "I barely know you... but I will try it anyways."  
Zap *nods* "I shall."  
*sighs in relief* Glad I'm not alone! I was so sad after writing that... I actually had to stop writing that chapter and put it aside for a day before coming back and finishing the rest of it. And speaking of the rest of it... I KNOW! Knuckles totally ruined the moment...! Even I was irritated and I was **_**writing**_** it! Oh and Nomad says thanks to the fact that you like Aero being a good bad guy. Oh, and I share Alena with Strife, not Nomad...  
Windy *grins* "See? I'm good."  
Zap *sighs* "You and your terms. Nerd bonding?"  
Windy "What else were you two doing? Techy geek bonding? Nah, it's staying as Nerd Bonding." *smirks*  
Thanks! I hope this chapter does just a good job! *Grins***

**Chaos= Yeah... that scene was very, very sad for me. I was just telling Rya that I had to stop writing that chapter for a day before finally coming back to it... it was so very depressing... but anyways, what is that song by? I want to hear it... also I listened to the song you recommended! It was good! I liked it quite a lot!  
Yes *trying not to laugh* How did you know that was coming? :P  
*Trying even harder not to laugh* You still got some pen on your face...**

**Storm= Yes... *sighs* it was a very sad chapter. Lol, and you probably don't want your makeup to run right before you went to school haha.  
So yes, Knuckles ruined the moment, and even I got irritated about that. It just kind of happened and then Knuckles walks in and is like: "Oh hey guys let's go fight some ARK projects". Oops, I'm rambling again. Have I had any sugar today...? Oh wait, a soda in third period. Oh crap that means the rest of the reviews are going to get random... *face palms*  
Yes! You're writing a short story! Let me know when it's up! I wanna see it...! But thanks for the ideas, I can squeese them in since I'm currently delaying the story! *grins then laughs*  
Yeah, so Robyn's drama is no more...! For now... she IS from the future...  
*laughs* Well, here's some more TNP awesomeness for you!**

**Strife= Hmm... disclaimer idea! I'm using it... in the next chapter hopefully.  
Glad you liked the SierraxSonic scene... and then having it end with Knuckles *sighs* he's good at ruining those moments. And I'll try to add Alena more in it, don't worry.**

**Guest= Hi there! Nice to meet you! So, you actually listened to me and listed to a sad song by ****Imogen Heap? I have a few songs by her now that I think about it...  
But, glad you liked that part... it was really sad for me too... I actually had to stop working on it like I was saying to a few of the others for awhile. Yeah, Aero's a vampire, since he belongs to BlackStormNomad and she made him that way. But he's not your average glittery vampire (if you like Twilight... then I'm sorry).  
What's with everyone trying Aero chocolate things but me?! *laughs* Aero's a Mint Aero Chocolate bar...! Wait till Nomad finds out!  
*starts laughing as you sing the song*  
**

**UFO= UnknownFollower! *long distance hug* Where have you been?! Whatever, as long as you're back! Anyways, no. I don't want to know what happens when you're angry *blinks slowly then shudders* Nope. Not at all. And yes! He was sooo close! So flipping close!  
Alright... if I ever meet Tonberry I run for my existence. Got it. *nods then laughs while taking your Soul Emerald* Everyone has one of these now... haha. Don't worry I won't break it.  
Zap "UFO! Give that back! It's mine...!" *sighs* "Now I'm gonna have to ask Rya for another one..."**

**Amicus= Hmm... what happened to me today... well... school. I had to take a bunch of tests since the end of the quarter is popping up but for my biology test it had the best thing in it ever! It asked what to do when your lab notebook catches on fire during a lab (dead serious) and one of the answers was to run out of the room screaming! I laughed so flipping hard when I saw that...! Oh, I don't remember if I mentioned it in the last one but the scene with Xsus and Cream... that was the scene I was talking about...**

**Disclaimer= Zap *walks up to Rya sulking then glares at UFO* "He took my spoon. I need another one."  
UFO "What?!" *looks innocent* "I didn't take your spoon!"  
Zap "..."  
Rya *stares* "You need **_**another **_**one?"  
Storm "What's with you and spoons anyways?"  
Raeweis "It's been around for awhile. It used to be a pan until Rya told him a spoon would do a better job. And he's been using that spoon since then!"  
Rya *****looks through the cupboards and pulls out a metal spoon then hands it to Zap* "Here you go!"  
Zap *smirks and glances at the others* "So, who should I shock first?"  
Blackie "No, Zappy, get outta here!"  
Chaos *laughing* "So you get your spoon and you want to shock people?"  
Zap "Of course! Oh by the way, this was in your mailbox." *hands Blackie letter who just hands it over to Storm as he walks out*  
Storm *opens the letter and laughs* "Another disclaimer! Okay: Sonic is owned to SEGA, Blackie owns the Dimension Jumpers, Strife owns some ideas in the story as well as sharing the character Alena with Blackie, and I own Robyn, Aero, and Kelly!"  
Blackie *snaps* "Which reminds me that a new Guest reviewer called Aero a mint Aero chocolate bar because he has green stripes." *laughs*  
Retto "Well... that does work when you think about it."  
Strife *smirks* "Maybe we should call him that if we find him since the fourth wall IS broken still..."**

**Uh... quick warning... this chapter gets a little graphic... just thought I'd warn you!**

Chapter Eighteen=

"Sorro, do you think he'll wake up soon?" Cream asked nervously as Sorro stared at Hydro with a scowl on his face. The boy hadn't said anything as soon as the group had disappeared to confront Aero. Cream and Charmy had a few heartless conversations while Sorro did nothing but stare at Hydro, daring him to move an inch.

Sorro said nothing as he stared unconscious Hydro down.

Charmy shook his head. "I don't think you're going to get him to say anything, Cream." He said as he floated up next to the freezer and opened it with a grin. "But I think I'm going to eat all the ice cream Sonic has in here…!"

Sorro tore his gaze from Hydro to glare at Charmy. "You can't touch the ice cream! You haven't asked!"

Charmy pouted. "Aw! Why not?!"

Sorro gave him a serious look and Charmy sighed as he closed the door to the freezer. Cream put her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels as she glanced from Sorro to Charmy as they stared each other down.

Then, Sorro blinked.

"Aha! You blinked I win!" Charmy said proudly. "Wait 'till your dad finds out!"

Sorro's face turned red. "Dad doesn't do staring contests with people!" He barked at Charmy.

Suddenly, the door opened and the three glanced back in surprise to see a figure standing in the door. He looked like he had been dragged through the end of the world and back again. His golden fur was covered with dirt and his ocean blue eyes were dark as he stared at the ground. He seemed so small as his lifeless looking eyes slowly looked up at the group before him.

"X-Xsus!" Sorro gasped as he stood up, recognizing the figure. "You're alive!"

Xsus could only nod as he stumbled into the house, limping heavily on his left leg. He stood up and looked at Sorro seriously. "Sorro… I need something… and it's very important that you get it for me. This could mean life or death for all of us."

Sorro nodded as he took a step towards Xsus. "Uh… sure Xsus, what do you need?"

"I need… some ice cream."

Sorro fell over anime style while Charmy flew up and opened the door to the freezer door before pulling out some mint ice cream. Xsus had a faint grin on his scratched up face as he limped into the room and took a seat at the counter, on top of one of the bar chairs.

"Xsus!" Cream jumped into the seat next to him and looked at him worriedly. "Are you okay?"

Xsus showed her a weak grin. "I'm fine, Cream! Don't worry about me! I ran into some projects on my way here, nothing too big, I managed to stop all of them on my own too."

Cream frowned as she investigated his wounds and lifted up a finger. "I'll be right back, don't you go anywhere!" She jumped off the stool and ran into the kitchen as Sorro took the seat on the other side of Xsus. "Xsus, so how did you escape?"

Xsus laughed. "Well, that's a funny story actually. Some rabbit came and showed me how to freeze things so I made an ice sword and cut through the bars holding me hostage! Then, I was running through the prison when I met this crazy white bird who showed me the way out and told me to hurry to Sonic's home. So I flew but got chased by some flying projects, I fought them, stopped them by freezing them, and then flew home until I crash landed about a few miles or so from here from exhaustion. I passed out cold and then woke up a few hours ago and walked here."

Cream suddenly came back holding a steaming bucket of water and a cloth as she jumped back onto her stool. "Let's get you cleaned up, Xsus." She said to him seriously as she dipped her rag into the warm water and then started scrubbing at the dirt on Xsus' arm, making Xsus flinch.

Sorro reached into his bag. "Cream, you don't have to do that. I got a healing potion right here." With that, Sorro pulled out a purple substance in a glass vile and handed it to Xsus. "Drink this, it'll help a lot."

Xsus frowned at the vile before removing the cork and chugging it while Charmy handed Xsus a bowl of ice cream. As soon as Xsus finished drinking the substance in the vile, everyone watched as the cuts and scratches visible on Xsus' body slowly fade away like they never existed. Xsus' ears suddenly perked up and he grinned, which lit up his eyes. "Wow! That stuff works great, Sorro! Thanks!"

Sorro laughed at Xsus' suddenly perkiness as Cream scowled at the dirt on him and started scrubbing at the side of his face. Sorro continued after a moment. "I made it, along with every potion I have. When Hydro would leave, I'd hide in this clearing in the forest and make all these potions for the fun of it!"

"Really?" Xsus asked as he pulled the bowl of ice cream towards himself and started eating out of it while Charmy got his own bowl. Xsus scowled as Cream rubbed the side of his face with the warm cloth again. "Ow! Cream! Ow! That hurts, cut it out!"

"You're dirty! And no one should be dirty at the dinner table!" Cream scolded, and scrubbed harder.

Sorro laughed as Xsus stopped complaining. After a moment, Xsus glanced at Sorro. "So, where are Sonic and the others?"

"They're out fighting Aero," Sorro suddenly scowled. "And they wanted us kids to stay behind and keep an eye on Hydro."

Xsus frowned and glanced back at his future self, who was still passed out cold on the ground before looking back at Sorro. "They don't want us kids to get hurt do they?" He asked while flattening his ears.

"No," Sorro shook his head sadly.

"It's not fair either," Charmy added in, mint ice cream was all over his face as the other three looked at him. "I want to fight! I bet I could do a pretty good job at holding off those ARK projects!" With that, Charmy started having a fist fight with an invisible project.

"Then we should go." A voice spoke up behind them, and all glanced back in surprise to see Hydro was sitting up slowly. The look in his ocean blue eyes was not bothering to hide any pain as he looked at the ground before slowly standing, "If we sit around here then Aero will win. Let's go."

Charmy grinned. "Wait, you're going to let us fight?!"

Hydro sighed. "This might be my dumbest plan ever, but yes. Sonic needs all the help he can get, and with us sitting here he has practically none."

Sorro grinned and the others started high-fiving each other as Cream sighed in defeat and stopped wiping the dirt off of Xsus as she looked at Hydro. "Mr. Hydro, do you think will be able to make a difference?"

Hydro's eyes softened as he looked at Cream. "Of course we will. We always have to have faith, everyone can make a difference."

Cream nodded while Charmy and Xsus had a mini war over the last bite of ice cream in the container with Sorro laughing. Hydro snapped as soon as he noticed the boys messing around. "Hey! No messing around, this is serious. Now, let's get out of here and help Sonic out!"

The kids cheered and Hydro led the way out the door, followed by four kids that were still messing around with each other. In the back of Hydro's mind, he wondered if he was doing the right thing, or was he dooming them all?

-XXXXXXX-

"I _told_ you two that we shouldn't have gone down that hallway!" Rouge said in exasperation as she ran down the hallway, leading Xerius and Espio down the countless turns.

_"It wasn't my idea to run down the hallway."_ Xerius said seriously while Espio glared at him.

"You know that was your fault, you even offered to go down the hallway." Espio said to him.

_"Did not."_

Espio rolled his eyes as Rouge led them to take a sharp turn to the left. The yelling of ARK projects was loud and clear behind them as Xerius extracted his claws and dug them into the wall next to them, making a long, three jagged line down the hallway until the wall snapped and crashed down behind them, stopping the projects for the moment.

"This way!" Rouge called and she was about to take a sharp turn to the right but was stopped when Xerius grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Xie! What is it?!" Rouge sighed in disbelief and then found Xerius' hand over her mouth as he glanced down the hallway with Espio and Rouge and all three saw more projects down that hallway.

_"Who's leading who down the wrong hallway now?" _Xerius said with a smirk and Espio and Rouge rolled their eyes.

They snuck across the hallway when the projects weren't looking and started running again, none of them looking back but all flinched when they heard footsteps of ARK projects running after them. Espio glanced back at the projects running behind them and pulled out a few of his ninja stars before glancing at Xerius.

Xerius nodded and sheathed his claws, running up and picking up Rouge wedding style before flying down the hallway at an impressive speed as Espio spun around, showing the projects behind him his ninja stars before throwing them at the ground at their feet, where they exploded on impact, sending a shockwave that blasted Espio off his feet.

The chameleon rolled on the ground multiple times and hit the wall on the other end of the hallway. Before he could get up, he was then yanked out of the way by Xerius and Rouge as the remains of the walls, ceiling, and ARK projects hit the wall Espio just ran into. The group took a deep breath, all relieved that was over with until they heard a voice behind them, causing all to tense up.

"Hello friends!"

Xerius showed his claws, Espio pulled out another ninja star, while Rouge lifted her fists angrily. However, all they saw behind them was a white bird with a crazy look in its blue eyes.

Rouge gasped as she recognized the bird. "Y-you…! You're that crazy bird that the commander sent us to see!"

-XXXXXXXX-

"Alright Sierra," Sonic said to her as the two ran down the road at full speed towards the bat named Tiane as she attacked Vector, Kelly, Choas the water element, and Tikal. "So, this is the bat that apparently killed you in the future…"

"That ugly thing?" Sierra showed her teeth as she formed a snarl and lifted her sword angrily. "Talk about a disgrace!"

Sonic chuckled. "Yes, the bat killed you, but either way that means you have to be careful, that bat can kill you for real if you're not careful!"

Sierra gave Sonic a serious look. "I will not lose to something as pathetic as that bat."

Sonic chuckled again as the two slid to a stop in front of Tiane as she easily avoided the punches Vector threw at the bat. She jumped into the air as Chaos conjured up a wall of water and smashed it into Tiane, who fell to the ground dripping wet before lunging at the water element, who quickly dissolved away into a puddle on the ground as Tikal took a nervous step back to not get too much involved in the fighting.

Kelly suddenly jumped forward and lifted a dagger she had brought along from the future and tried to dive it into Tiane's skin but the bat quickly jumped out of the way as Kelly went into a wild rage, slashing in random directions as Tiane could do nothing but back up to avoid getting cut. After a moment, Kelly lifted a hand and then blasted Tiane with glowing blue energy that knocked the bat backwards a few feet.

Sierra glanced over at Sonic before teleporting on top of Tiane as the bat knocked Kelly over with her large, black wings. The bat hissed angrily as the black cat smashed her boot into Tiane's face before flipping backwards and landing on the ground gently.

"Pick on someone your own size, _bat_!" Sierra hissed as her fur seemed to puff up from being irritated.

"Oh pardon me," The bat huffed as she tried to get the water off her face, which made her makeup run and made her look like a scary clown currently. "I was just having some fun with these guys. Here, let me kill them first since you have no care for them, Follower of Darkness."

Sierra growled. "And how do you know that title?"

"There are hints about your kind and the other dimension on the ARK, Aero found them in a hidden document on Gerald's computer, but don't worry, hun, you won't live long enough to care. Besides, you don't have a care in the world for these people, do you? Or do you?"

Sierra gripped her sword tightly in one hand as everyone stared at her, "S-shut up."

"Oh what, so you _do _have a care for them? Oh my!" Tiane teased, obviously enjoying Sierra getting ticked off more by the second. "Who could you care for the most? What about…" Tiane glanced back at Sonic and the blue blur lifted his fists defensively. "…him?"

Sierra lifted a fist. "You touch him and I will make your life _worse_ than the Council of Death could ever muster for you…!" Sierra then finished her sentence by cussing Tiane out, but since I'm not a swearing type of author, you can just imagine what she said.

Tiane smirked at Sierra's rage. "Oh really? Seems to me that you like him…!"

Tikal, Kelly, and Vector stared at Sonic as Chaos slowly formed back into his normal water form, his green eyes glowing. Sonic felt his face become warm as the four of them stared at him in shock.

"I do not!" Sierra growled as her muzzle turned red.

"Sure you do!"

"I said shut up!" Sierra jumped forward and lifted her sword and sliced downward onto Tiane, giving the bat a good size cut across her large black wings that swooshed in front of her to block the attack. Sierra landed in front of the bat and threw her sword at the bat and watched as it sank into the bat's left wing. "Do not mock me! I traveled many dimensions to get here and I will _not_ just stand here and let you mock me!"

Tiane howled in pain as she opened her wings and tried to pull the sword out of it while Sierra growled angrily, showing her teeth again as she formed a furious snarl.

Sierra lifted a finger gun and pointed it at Tiane. "Be gone, I expel you from existence!" She yelled at her. And then Tiane exploded into darkness that seemed to be absorbed into Sierra's sword as it clattered onto the ground. However, as soon as the bat was gone, Sierra was breathing heavily like the attack sucked out all her energy. She fell to her knees as Sonic ran up next to her.

"H-hey… are you okay?" Sonic then noticed the others staring. "Hurry and help the others! They need your help more than we do. Go!"

The others could only nod and then run off. The only one that didn't look too shocked after the entire incident would be Chaos but besides that, everyone else looked too stunned for words as Sonic bent down next to Sierra.

Sierra panted heavily. "I-I'm fine… you should quit wasting your time messing around with a killer like me."

"You're not a killer, Sierra…"

"But I just killed the bat!" Sierra waved her hand angrily at her black sword on the ground. She flattened her ears and look away. "Why do you continue to bother me, Sonic? You know things cannot ever work with us."

"Why not?" Sonic asked with a frown.

"I'm a Follower of Darkness, we're not allowed to become even _friends _with our enemies." Sierra muttered. "Now go away."

Sonic sighed as he sat down next to Sierra. "Well, you should've told me that a _long_ time ago."

Sierra didn't say anything and Sonic couldn't bare the silence any longer. He turned and gently lifted a hand to Sierra's cheek, forcing Sierra to look at him. "Look, I-I've been meaning to say this to you for awhile but…" He stopped talking and sighed.

"Are you going to leave me hanging like that?" Sierra asked, obviously unimpressed.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Very funny… I'm just trying to get my nerve up to do this." Sonic suddenly leaned forward and kissed Sierra as the cat's black eyes widened in shock.

The kiss only lasted for a second and when Sonic finally pulled away, Sierra was only staring at him in a mixture of shock, annoyance, and disbelief.

It was around then when Sonic noticed Amy standing far off behind Sierra.

-XXXXXXXX-

Xerius growled angrily as he stared at the white bird. _"So you're the cause of all of this to happen!"_

The bird chuckled gleefully, seeming to suddenly disappear and then reappear behind the group, causing the chameleon, cat, and bat to spin around to look at the white bird. "Friends, friends! You mustn't be mad! I did try to warn you!"

Rouge huffed. "Well it didn't stop anything."

The bird was suddenly hanging upside down on the ceiling, laughing gleefully in a crazy voice as its blue eyes slowly started going in opposite directions. "Don't you want to know what else I should warn you about?"

Espio growled. "We don't have time for you and your riddles! We have to save a friend from here!"

"A little golden cat, would it be? The boy's name must be Xsus, I see!" The bird said as it cocked its head sideways on the ceiling.

Xerius took a step forward. _"How do you know that name?"_

The bird suddenly seemed to vanish and reappear behind Rouge, causing the bat to spin around in shock and a growl to rise in Xerius' throat as the bird began talking. "Ehehe! I see such misery in your future! A betrayal I see? The pride becomes man's worse enemy! Time and space alike won't be spared!"

Espio frowned. "Time and space? Do you mean that something will happen to time and space again, like when Mephiles attacked for the first time?"

The bird giggled wildly as it vanished and reappeared behind Xerius. It leaned forward towards the group and put its hands to its beak, looking like it was trying to be scared. "I see a terrible fate in the end of this all, for light and darkness will never return!" The bird then let out a wild screech of laughter that brought chills down everyone's spines. "A vampire, a transformation, the card, a demon, so many new things will be seen! But which is which? And why does this all disappear?"

Xerius growled. _"Stop speaking in riddles and explain the truth!"_

"What more can be explained?" The bird disappeared and then reappeared next to Espio, who gave the bird a cold look as it continued. "The truth coming to you cannot be betrayed! Time and space lose all meaning, a hurt heart is the cause of the bleeding, and the worst of it all, this will all lead to a great fall that will change the way light and darkness works! Ehehehe!"

With that, the bird suddenly vanished in a puff of white feathers. There was a moment of silence until Xerius reached out and snatched one of the feathers floating in mid air before looking at it seriously. _"None of this makes any sense. A hurt heart is the cause of the bleeding?"_

"Well," Rouge said dryly. "He was rhyming again."

"Let's think about what he gave us, it might give us some clues." Espio said seriously.

_"He continued mentioning something about time and space."_ Xerius said seriously.

"What could be wrong with time and space? Although, we have messed up the time part of it with having the future come into the past trying to fix some things." Rouge said as she put a hand on her hip.

"Space... space is ruled by time and time is ruled by space..." Espio said slowly. "I remember learning something about this when Zap was in one of his rambling moments. When one goes out of balance, thanks to a large event, the other goes out of balance. Maybe space if finally falling apart thanks to time and that's leading it to where we are now."

Xerius growled under his breath. _"If that's the case then we must warn the others."_

Rouge frowned. "Hang on boys, aren't we forgetting about Xsus?"

Both Espio and Xerius looked at her. _"I think the bird led Xsus out of here. There's no way he can still be down here after what the bird had said." _Xerius said after a moment.

Rouge looked at the ground and nodded. "Fine, I hope you're right though Xie. Poor Xsus, he must be scared down here being all alone. We might as well just give the place a quick look and leave."

Xerius nodded, looking sad for a moment and before anyone could say anything, they all heard a scream of a monster that brought down chills down their spines, because it was worse than the crazy white bird's laughter.

**Oooo! Creepy! Well, I'll try to update soon like I said I would again! But, I don't know. I'm almost positive it should be up before Friday but you know... things can change fast!**

**So leave a review and I'll see you in the next chapter! *grins* Oh, and whoever reviews I'll be extremely grateful too, you'll be breaking my record of highest amount of reviews, ever.  
**

**NOTES= Chaos uploaded some chapters to his story (Space Colony ARK) so go read it!  
**


	19. Chapter 19

**Windy *looks back* "I might as well warn you all now. She ate a cookie awhile ago and I think it's starting to get to her… if her reviews start rambling… don't say I didn't warn you…!"**

***walks in* "Hiya, Wind!"**

**Windy *pales and forces a smile* "What's up, SandHeart?"**

**Nothing much! I did have one of Cream's cookies. Alright, thanks goes to my Ohana for reviewing!**

**Chaos= Yes! You broke my record! Nice job bro! *hands you a cookie* Do you want one too? It's for breaking the record and Cream made them with Xsus…  
*nods while trying not to laugh* It's gone now but… *busts up laughing* Did you see the mustache Nightshade drew on you?! That was awesome!  
*laughs* Exactly! Although **_**you**_** mister left me on a cliffhanger! *huffs then laughs* Ah, whatever. It'll make the story ten times better when you bring it out!**

**Strife= Yeah… Amy saw it… now what'll happen…? And the crazy bird *shudders* is creepy. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter because currently only you and myself know what's happening at the end of it *grins***

**Raeweis= Yeah, and very creepy. That's the way it is when you're half insane though *half hearted laugh while remembering Katherine's Tale*. But yes! Amy saw them! They're so screwed…! Haha!**

**Retto= It is…  
Enigmatic… that would be a good way to describe the bird. Maybe you could combine the two together… Enigmaticrazy. Hmm… well… I can obviously see that the effects of that cookie are starting to get to me… aw great… now by the time I get to Rya's review… *face palm* Anyways, so Xsus wears clothes similar to the one on the cover picture. Just get rid of the vest/jacket that he's wearing, the glasses, and the black gloves and you got Xsus!  
Xsus *lifts up arms to make an X and slides back a few feet before frowning and flicking his wrists* "Ow! Ow! Ow! That smaaaaaarts!" *notices you staring and laughs weakly* "Oh, sorry, back to action!" *Jumps into the air and lifts hands out to form a sword made of water from thin air***

**Storm= I read your short story…! It was awesome!  
Xsus *grins* "I gotta hug… from Storm and Kelly…!"  
You're in a fight with Retto, Xsus, focus!  
Xsus *blinks* "Oh right!" *jumps back into battle*  
Anyways, yeah, I liked that part since it was a really cute idea to me at the time haha. I always love doing things like that. And yes… Hydro, Hydro, Hydro *shakes head slowly*  
Xerius… yeah, he'd do that. He is one of the major pride OCs and admitting going down the wrong hallway would be… humiliating to him long story short.  
Yeah… time and space… '06 is a perfect example of this. So, what's your guess about the bleeding heart?  
Sonic *reddens* "M-maybe…!"**

**UFO= *laughs* I'm losing it too… it's taken all my sanity so far not to go crazy on all of you right now. Gummy bears?! What is the meaning of this…?! Hand some over!  
A lot of people have guesses on the bleeding heart part… hmm… what's your idea?  
Dang… not sure if I **_**want**_** to know what you've seen that's painful and sorrowful… here, I'll let you hang around with Xsus when he's done fighting Retto haha.  
Thank you! I despise Twilight… *scowls* But, I love the song My Immortal too… it has meaning to me too but probably is different from yours… haha.  
So yeah, the future could already be changing… for the worse or the better, you'll find out.**

**Rya= Yes! We **_**are**_** two nuts in a pod! Haha! And yes, some of us are more insane then the others. I think I'd be on the insane side of the list but not as insane as you Rya *grins*  
Yep on both of them! If I'm right I believe she broke Tails' heart one to many times…  
Yeah, Sierra. So do you like him? You did kiss him and have the high likelihood of being smacked into another universe by Amy currently.  
Sierra *eyes flash over to Amy and then stares silently at both of us*  
Well… I don't think we're going to get an answer very soon…  
Let's go with: I know the future. It makes me sound mysterious haha but that's just a total SandHeart thing though.  
Ohmigosh, seriously?! I'd LOVE to have you at my school for at least one day Rya, it'd be hilarious if you called out random comments in class…!  
Eh, idk it just sort of wrote itself to happen…  
Zap *smirks at Windy* "And I still remember that day when I offered for one… and **_**you**_** said…!"  
Windy *glares* "Shut up, Zap."  
Yeah, you gotta have some similarities between the parents and their kids! Sorro is Xerius' kid so it's only logical… and YES! Go ahead and nickname her that since she's gone now! And yes, Aero's back again and… I don't want to know what he's doing with all those projects. Probably trying to lead them, knowing Aero.  
Henry for the crazy white bird? Sure! Why not? I'll ask the others in the Ohana though. *grins* we could have a vote or something!  
But yes, continue guessing on the betray one. Father Darkness huh…? That'd be quite interesting…  
*laughs and waves a hand at the source of the scream* Alright, you can go now!**

**Amicus= Huh… what happened to me today…? Today is… Thursday… right *nods*  
Well, I did have quite a scare in Geometry. I wore a blue shirt today (don't ask why!) and my friend pointed out how my blue eyes matched with the shirt, making them look like an ice blue color and all I could do was get the chills and think: **_**Oh crap… Sierra…**_** *laughs* They're normally dark blue though, like Zap's color so that threw me off big time! Well, that's my story for today! Hope you're having fun on your vacation, Amicus!**

**Disclaimer= Soooo! We have a name offered up by Rya. What if we called the creepy white, predicting bird Henry? Any objections? Any better names? Let me know when you review! Anyways, this idea was given to you by Strife!  
Retto "I told you it was a bad idea to give out the cookie dough to them."  
Strife "Nah, this is hilarious."  
UFO "Can I have some gummy bears?"  
Strife "You already had cookie dough. The last thing you need is some gummy bears."  
*someone knocks on the door as UFO pouts*  
Retto "I got it." *opens the door and blinks in surprise when he sees its Mephiles the Dark*  
Mephiles "May I come in?"  
Retto "….."  
Mephiles "Thanks." *walks in and looks at Strife* "Is Blackie in?"  
Blackie *slides to a stop on the tile floor in the room then Rya and Storm crashes into her and all three fall over laughing*  
Strife *holds a hand out* "Here, let me see the disclaimer."  
Mephiles *shrugs* "Suit yourself." *hands him the letter as Rya and Storm stare at Mephiles in shock*  
Storm "M-Mephiles?!"  
Rya *stares* "Memories of '06 again…!" *shudders*  
Blackie *grins* "Oh! No flipping way! My favorite Sonic the hedgehog bad guy is standing in the living room!"  
Raeweis *slides in as well and trips and falls over Blackie, Rya, and Storm* "Hey…! What are you guys thinking, lying in the middle of the floor? haha!"  
Chaos *walks in, looks at the girls on the ground then starts laughing* "Wow, never seen this before. How did all of you manage to do that…?"  
Blackie *looks at Chaos and grabs his leg as he walks by, resulting him in falling over as well*  
Strife "Alright, we got another disclaimer: 'Mephiles and the people that he fought with in '06 belong to SEGA, I own some ideas in the story as well as sharing the character Alena with Blackie, Blackie owns the Dimension Jumpers, and Storm owns Aero, Kelly, and Robyn. Chaos also belongs to Chaos'. That's it."  
Mephiles "And now I take my leave." *vanishes while the others stare in shock and Strife walks away calmly like he sees stuff like this every day***

Chapter Nineteen=

"A-Amy!" Sonic gasped as the pink hedgehog put a hand to her lips in shock as tears slowly filled up her eyes. Sierra on the other hand had her face as red as a tomato and was looking down at the ground with her ice blue eyes wide.

Amy's tears slowly fell down her face as she turned around and ran away from the two. Sierra, for once, was struck silent. She stared at the ground with a hand over her mouth as Sonic turned towards Sierra. "Um..."

Sierra swallowed and shook her head, managing to regain some of her composure. "You go after her. I... I can take care of myself. You owe her an apology."

"Why do I...?"

"She's been obsessed over you, can't you see that? You just broke her heart into a million little pieces." Sierra muttered. "I knew this was a bad idea...!"

"Well..." Sonic swallowed and then sat up boldly. "I didn't regret doing it."

Sierra glanced over at Sonic and then looked away quickly. "Well... I..."

Sonic leaned forward to the black cat and watched her face turn red as she noticed him leaning towards her. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Sonic leaned away and then looked off. "Alright, I'll go after Ames and apologize to her... since I did technically break her heart, like you say. You go and keep the others safe. Make sure no one dies, got it?"

"But I don't have a care for any of them." Sierra said with a scowl.

"You'll get another kiss if you do...!" Sonic said with a laugh.

Sierra's face turned red again and she flattened her ears in embarrassment. "W-what are you trying to prove, Sonic?"

Sonic jumped to his feet and waved a hand at her. "Don't worry about it. You keep the others safe, I'll go get Amy." With that, the blue blur ran off while Sierra stumbled to her feet and looked off in the direction Sonic had ran off to...

...and smiled.

-XXXXXXXX-

Aero breathed heavily as he slid to a stop and threw an irritated glare in Robyn's direction as the fox landed gently before him, her green eyes seeming to glow to show her anger. The hedgehog glanced around the city now that Robyn had managed to force him inside. He could hear the shouts and cries of his fellow siblings and the yells of his enemies slowly killing them off. Aero turned his dark eyes to Robyn and bared his teeth angrily, revealing his sharp fangs. "Well my little rose, you sure have proven yourself as a threat against me!"

Robyn huffed angrily, trying to keep her composure. "You're a sick hedgehog, you know that, Aero? A sick, sick, hedgehog."

Aero chuckled as he slowly stood up, licking his lips as he eyed Robyn. "So, you think fighting me with your Starfire ability will stop me…?!"

Robyn crossed her arms angrily and stared Aero down as she remembered the ancient and dangerous ability that few had. It was just about as ancient as light and darkness itself. "Yes, yes I do. And you know it can too, Aero!"

Aero rolled his eyes, obviously unimpressed as he lifted his fists. "You think you can stop me, little vampire?"

Robyn glared at Aero, clenching her fists and fighting back a growl as her anger started boiling beneath her fur. "Aero…! S-Shut up!"

"Come on, my rose, you know you cannot stop me…" Aero said as he started walking towards her and Robyn's eyes narrowed. She had fallen for a trick similar to this one in the past. She winced as she remembered Tails' lifeless body ten years in the future…

Before thinking twice about it, Robyn lifted a hand and purple lightning shot out of her fingertips, hitting Aero in the chest and causing him to skid backwards and fall off the building. Robyn blinked in surprise and looked at her smoking hand, but felt nothing. After a moment, she ran towards the edge and looked down but saw that Aero was on the ground… alive and glaring up at her.

"You dare to knock me off a building?!"

"You dare to advance up on me like that?!" Robyn shot back down at him as the hedgehog suddenly vanished using Chaos Control and appeared behind Robyn. The fox spun around as Aero shook his head, walking towards her again.

"You are such a fool, you know you cannot resist me, Robyn." Aero said slowly as he stopped right in front of her and placed a hand on the side of her face, forcing her to look at him as she turned her head away from him.

Robyn growled quietly, hating the cold feel of his touch and how it brought chills down her spine. It was almost enough to make her start crying because of all the terrible things he had done to her.

Suddenly, a new voice spoke up. "That's just wrong. Buzz off Aero or I'm going to have to knock the lights out of you... again."

Aero growled as he looked over, but kept his hand on the side of Robyn's face. He snarled angrily when he saw a seventeen-year-old golden cat. "You…!"

"The name's Hydro, thank you very much." Hydro growled as he took a step towards Aero as his hands were shoved deep into his pockets. Hydro's blue eyes glowed with rage as he fought back a snarl that was slowly forming on his face.

Aero hissed as in a quick movement, yanked Robyn behind him as if trying to protect her from Hydro. "Leave, boy, you will die if you stay here for any longer. Can't you see that I am busy?"

Hydro growled and suddenly teleported in front of Aero in mid air and spun around right in front of the dark hedgehog. As he spun, his boot came into contact with the side of Aero's face and knocked him off the building and onto another one as Hydro landed silently in front of a shocked but relieved Robyn.

"Hydro!" Robyn gasped. "How are you awake…?!"

"Cream is an excellent healer," Hydro muttered. "We're all here now to finish this. A fight to the death you could say."

Robyn smiled weakly. "Welcome back, Hydro."

Hydro gave her a thumbs up and glanced over at Aero who was getting up on a nearby rooftop. "I say we finish Aero together and that will change everything in the future but you get the final blow since he did kill your brother from what I hear. So, what do you say?"

Robyn looked at Hydro and nodded, "For the future?"

"For the future," Hydro nodded and both them jumped across the rooftops and charged at Aero with Robyn's fists glowing with Starfire and a katana appearing in Hydro's hands.

Aero growled as he stumbled to his feet. His black eyes glowed as he watched Hydro and Robyn charge and he lifted a fist into the air, which caused Robyn and Hydro to slide to a stop in surprise to see what his new, evil plan was. "Ultimate Project!" Aero roared into the air. "I call for you! Come to me!"

"Oh crap…!" Hydro said quietly to himself.

-XXXXXXXX-

Xerius' ears twitched and he stopped next to Espio and Rouge as they walked down the long hallways, doing a final quick look around to become positive that Xsus wasn't down here.

"Xie?" Rouge asked as she stopped in front of him and glanced back. "What's wrong? Do you hear something?"

Xerius nodded but said nothing as he looked around the hallways frantically. Espio shook his head while he crossed his arms. "Xerius, what is it? You can't just leave us hanging if the information is valuable."

Suddenly, a flash of light flashed through Xerius' eyes and he suddenly saw himself, Rouge, and Espio running down the hallways with a black... _thing_ running after them, opening its jagged teeth, ready to eat all of them all. Then, the light faded and Xerius found himself back in the present with Espio and Rouge not running for their lives.

Xerius growled and grabbed Rouge's hand pulling her close to him as his brown eyes darted to Espio for a moment. _"I hear something coming, come on, if we stand here for another twenty seconds we're going to be attacked by a thing of the night."_

Espio frowned but knew better than to question Xerius' ability to see into the future. Xerius pulled on Rouge's hand gently and soon the entire team was racing through the dark halls to get back to the surface. Suddenly, Xerius slid to a stop and Rouge and Espio did too, just in time as a black mass suddenly shot through the wall before them like it was made of nothing but sand. Blood red eyes turned to the group and chills went down the three's spines as Rouge let out a shriek.

Xerius lifted Rouge wedding style and then started running back the way they came with Espio following him. The black monster, known as the Ultimate Project, let out a wild screech and chased after them, opening its wings and causing the walls on either side of them to fall over as it ran after them.

Rouge glanced over Xerius' shoulder and past Espio to see the monster bearing down on them, opening its mouth at an impossible angle and she let out a scream as Espio looked back. His eyes widened at the horrifying sight and he almost stopped to freeze in fear.

Xerius growled angrily as Espio forced himself to look forward and the fear gave him enough adrenaline to run alongside Xerius as the cat forced himself to look forward, not back. _"Keep running!" _He said to Espio. _"If you stop then that thing will eat you!"_

Espio nodded and the two took a sharp turn, causing the Ultimate Project to skid away further down the hallway behind them and then in seconds, it was back, charging down this hallway after them.

Suddenly, in front of the group, a bunch of projects suddenly appeared and jumped in their way as Xerius carefully set Rouge on her feet while they ran. The bat managed to keep up with Espio and Xerius' quick footing and the three of them ran alongside the walls, or even up on the ceiling to avoid all of the projects while the Ultimate Project just crashed right through them, eating one of them in one gulp in the process.

"Which way is the way out?" Rouge cried to the two boys as they ran for their lives down the hallway. All three could start to feel the fear of being chased by, what seemed to be, an unstoppable monster starting to get to all of them. Xerius stole a moment to glance back and his eyes widened in surprise to see the monster was almost upon them, just like in his quick vision of the future.

"This way!" Espio called and they dived down another hallway and Xerius grabbed Rouge's arm and yanked her after them as the Ultimate Project shoved its head into the tiled flooring where they used to be running at, crashing through it like it was made of nothing.

Xerius, Rouge, and Espio's boots made thumping sounds and their breathing was becoming heavy as they ran. Espio threw a ninja star back at the monster as it was suddenly chasing them again, but the monster charged right through it like the ninja star did nothing but tick it off even more. The monster let off a scream that made all of them run faster.

"There's the door!" Rouge suddenly cried after they took a sharp turn around another corner, leaving the Ultimate Project behind.

Xerius and Espio felt their spirits rise as they saw the door and all three charged at it as the Ultimate Project ran towards them, slowly opening its mouth to swallow all three in a gulp. Espio used a ninja star to explode the metal door, revealing a gust of wind that brought to them the fresh night air.

Xerius, Rouge, and Espio raced up the stairs leading up to the door, hearing the crashing of the Ultimate Project tearing its way through everything to come after them. As soon as they were out, Xerius grabbed onto Rouge and the three of them dived for the ground, crashing hard into the asphalt and getting a few burns and scratches to complain about tomorrow, if it ever came.

Suddenly, they heard a whoosh and felt the fur on their bodies rise as the Ultimate Project opened its wings into the night air and take to the skies, forgetting completely about the prey it chased out of here in the first place.

As the monster spun up, high into the air, it let out a screech that stopped everyone from fighting for a moment to look up and stare at the horrifying monster as it flapped its dark wings to stay afloat.

Robyn gasped as she looked at it, not too far away from where Espio, Rouge, and Xerius were. "W-what is that?!"

Hydro growled. "It must be the Ultimate Project! It looks nothing like it does in the future...!"

"Which means time must be getting messed up in the future!" Robyn turned to Hydro in shock, terror, and confusion, "And if time's getting messed up, space must be too and who knows what's going to happen then?!"

Hydro paled. "Are you telling me this is going to be another Mephiles experience all over again?!"

Robyn could only shake her head as Aero started laughing evilly in front of them. "Yes! The Ultimate Project rises and nothing can stop it!" He said with a laugh.

Below, near the outskirts of the fight, Sierra slid to a stop and looked up at the monster, her ice blue eyes flashing and she glanced over at a nearby spear one of the ARK projects must've dropped. She picked it up and then ran towards the Ultimate Project, running past some of the others on her team, currently.

"Sierra!" Katherine called. "No! Don't be an idiot!"

Sierra, of course, ignored her as she jumped into the air, did a flip, and landed on the roof. She turned towards the Ultimate Project, twirled the spear in her hands, and then chucked it at the project.

There was a moment of silence as time seemed to stop. Both projects, Dimension Jumpers, beings from the future, and Mobians, watched the spear sail into the air, and then smack into the side of the face of the Ultimate Project, creating a long, gash and black liquid, that acted like anything _but_ blood, slowly oozed out of it as it turned its blood red gaze to Sierra.

Sierra found herself wishing she followed Katherine's advice for once as the monster suddenly dived towards her. The black cat spun around and booked it across the rooftops and she heard Katherine and Chaos calling out to her from behind as the Ultimate Project flew after her at full speed.

-XXXXXXXX-

Sonic the hedgehog slid to a stop when he found Amy huddling in a corner. He frowned as he slowly walked up to her. "Hey... Ames...?"

Amy glanced back and looked at him silently. When she spoke, she stuttered, like she had been crying recently, her eyes were red from it, giving Sonic all the proof he needed. "S-Sonic...!"

"Look Amy," Sonic took a deep breath and crossed his arms. "I came to say sorry."

"F-for what?"

"Y-you know," It was now Sonic's turn to start stuttering. "For k-kissing Sierra..."

Amy started crying again and Sonic could hear the sounds of battle over Amy's sobs. He wanted to help Amy feel better but he wasn't sure how to and at the same time he wanted to help the others. "It's o-okay," Amy said after a moment as she wiped more tears away with the palms of her hands. "I al-always th-thought you had something with her."

Sonic chuckled nervously, but said nothing.

Amy sighed after a moment and wrapped her arms around her knees, refusing to look at the blue blur next to her. "S-Sonic... if you do go after her... there's one thing I want to say about it..."

"Sure Ames, what is it?"

Suddenly, Amy jumped to her feet, fire seeming to light up her green eyes. "I will still follow you to the ends of the Earth! You will someday be mine even if you go after Sierra the Vile!"

Sonic sighed, doing an anime tear drop as he did so. "Wow Ames, didn't expect _that_ to come out of your mouth."

Amy huffed angrily. "You know it's the truth! You only kissed her so you could find out your true feelings! You're trying to hide your feelings of love for me, Sonikku!"

Sonic sighed. "Alright Amy, do whatever you think is best."

Amy grinned and hugged Sonic tightly, resulting in him falling over. "Oh thank you Sonic! Thank you!"

Sonic rolled his eyes but couldn't help but smile. Well, at least he managed to make Amy feel better again, right? That was all that mattered at this point. "You're welcome, Amy."

-XXXXXXXX-

Sierra ran for her life down the roads in the city, through the twists and the turns. The roar of a deranged project behind her only urged her on. She stole a moment to glance back and instantly regretted it when she saw a large monster bearing down on her. She skidded around the corner and pressed her back into the wall as the monster roared past her.

As soon as it was gone, she started breathing heavily, finding herself panting. She sucked the air greedily down her lungs as her ears perked upwards, listening for a sound to prove that the monster was still looking for her.

When she heard nothing, Sierra glanced out the alleyway she ducked into and looked around, wondering where the thing went, her ice blue eyes narrowing as she did so.

It was around then when she heard the sound of something growling behind her. Sierra spun around in surprise and came face to face with a giant black muzzle slowly showing jagged teeth to form a sharp smile. Sierra pressed her back farther back into the wall and bared her teeth to try to show the Ultimate Project in front of her a snarl.

The Ultimate Project was obviously, unimpressed. It reared back for a strike and Sierra closed her eyes tightly, glancing away and bracing herself for the final blow. What was the point of fighting back? This thing seemed to have a radar to track down any of its enemies. By the time she'd pull out her sword to defend herself, she'd already be dead. What was the use?

In the back of her mind, Sierra wondered if this was how she _really_ died in the future. She then, off topically, wondered what Sonic would do if she died and if she would meet Flame and Terios when she went to the Council of Death. Sierra opened an eye and stole a final moment to look at the monster that was going to bring her her doom.

The Ultimate Project lunged forward and Sierra closed her again eyes and braced herself for an attack that never came.

"Pick on someone your own size, caudex!" A familiar voice growled and Sierra opened her eyes in surprise and her ice blue eyes widened at the girl before her.

She was a cat, with fur that was almost as dark as Sierra's was and when she glanced back at Sierra, her dark hazel eyes flashed as she smashed her boot on top of the Ultimate Project's nose into the ground before doing a back flip and landing next to Sierra. She pulled out a midnight black sword from midair and twirled it in her hands. She glared at Sierra, letting some of her short fur-like hair get in the way of her dark hazel eyes for a moment as the Ultimate Project reared upwards and let out a howl of pain. "How many flipping times do I have to save you from death, Sierra?" She asked angrily.

Sierra eyes widened with shock and felt like her heart stopped beating, "Flame?!"

**Cliffy! Bwahaha!**

**Windy "And… she lost it. Alright, Blackie, out."**

***pouts and crosses arms, refusing to move while Windy sighs* Windy "Anyways, thanks for reading the story! The next story might come out Monday, we're still running into some slight errors in the story but that'll be fixed soon, no worries! That, and we're also going on vacation over the weekend so even PMing people might be difficult for BlackSandHeart."**

***sighs and then smiles* See you all when the next chapter comes around! Some notes: Chaos updated another chapter on his story and Nomad put up a chapter to her short stories that was inspired by This is War. So go read those! Later! *vanishes***


	20. Chapter 20

**Hiya readers! Welcome to the next chapter of This is War!**

**Anyways, to the story since I left it on a cliffhanger for all of you in the last chapter. Thanks to my Ohana for reviewing!**

**Amicus= *laughs* I don't think Rya was in your suitcase. I could see you peaking through your suitcases and stuff to see if Rya was in there or not... haha and yes! I remember you mentioning something like that about your conversations... which is just awesome. What would I do if my lab notebook caught on fire...? By the Alvainians well, it depends on my mood. Most of the time I'd either throw it across the room, run, or start laughing...  
And yeah, I suppose I do stress out a lot about doing that. So, I think I'll be taking it easy and updating less frequently... unless the chapter's ready. But thanks Amicus! *grins*  
And don't cry! Wait... I almost did too...  
So, you like blue eyes? Ha, I always had a thing for green eyes. I've never seen green eyes before... in real life. But, after reading all the reviews you put up you seemed to love the story so far! Yay!  
Hydro *smiles confidently* "Aha! First place!"**

**Rya= You had sugar too! That might've been my death sentence though, giving all of us sugar though... and heck yes. You WOULD tip the charts haha- which is a good thing! ...oh my gosh! You're right! Vile and Evil do have the same letters! *becomes quiet and stares at the words for a moment in shock then continues* but yes... you're right. Sierra does have a heart *laughs*  
Awww! But still! It'd be an awesome day.  
Windy *grins at Zap as you hug her* "Win."  
Zap *rolls his eyes*  
Touche! I always joke around saying that I'll one day take over the world (and all my friends are like: "yeaaaaaah right") and then I think to myself: Hang on, once I take over the world, then what?  
Yeah, those are all good points... and I want to tell you which ones right but... *looks over at Zap as he glares at me* I don't think I can at the moment...  
He's your favorite too?! No flippin way! Mephiles is my favorite too because of that reason, and because he's so darn creepy!  
*laughs* They'll all show up soon! Don't worry! And yes, Amy... just doesn't get it. I'd do the same thing if I knew that someone was happy with another person. I'd move along... maybe with a bit of grumbling but I'd still move on *laughs again* I think I'm officially a SonicxSierra fan too, not just cause I made it up, it's cause that couple just... works in a weird way. *falls over laughing as you mock Aero*  
Flame *pulls out a wallet and hands you her ID* "There. Happy?"  
And yes, I had tons of fun on my vacation! It was awesome! Oh, and I think almost everyone liked the name Henry so that'll be the name of the crazy bird!**

**Storm= Sonic *pales and waves his hands at you* "Okay! Okay!"  
Thanks *grins* all your OCs are fun to write so far! So it's good to see I'm writing them right! And yeah! Hydro and Robyn would make the perfect team ever! Along with a few others too maybe but you get what I mean!  
Flame *smirks* "Yeah it's me."**

**UFO= Yesss! *takes some gummy bears with a grin* Anyways, I could see Amy and Sonic being a couple... I just couldn't see how it could work out well in the end. Oh, and no. Flame wasn't locked up with the other experiments... they'd be dead if that was the case.  
Flame *smirks* "More than dead. They'd be on a level above dead."  
And that would be...?  
Flame *shrugs* "You know what I mean."  
Oh! I hope you did good on your race, did you do a good job?**

**Raeweis= Hahaha! Aero and Oh Henry? That's just... haha! So, *clears throat while trying not to laugh again* yeah, Amy's being a creeper once more! Along with Flame appearing out of nowhere haha.**

**Chaos= *blinks then laughs* Wow, you sounded Xsus style hyper right there!  
Flame *nods while sighing* "Yes. I'm back. And I'll bash you on the side of the head after knocking out Katherine over here."  
Katherine "Challenge accepter, Flame!"**

**Retto= You can't glare? Pssh, I don't know if I should say you're lucky or not...  
Sierra "I don't have one...!"  
Flame "Shut up. You do."**

**Xsus *frowns and lifts up his water sword* "So?" *jumps and slashes the sword at you before sliding behind you, grabbing your arm and smashing you into the ground***

**Strife= Yeah... pretty much is...  
Of course you already knew...! But anyways, glad you liked the chapter, Strife! Hope you like this one just as much!**

**DISCLAIMER= Given to you by Rya. Thanks, Rya! *grins*  
Amicus *walks through the door and stops when she sees everyone wearing party hats with grins on most of their faces*  
Storm "Welcome back, Amicus!"  
Amicus *face turns red* "What?! You guys...!"  
Blackie *Grins* "Xsus made a cake for you... go check it out! It's good to have you back!"  
Amicus *frowns* "Where is it...?"  
Retto "The back counter."  
Amicus *walks farther into the room and Rya puts a party hat on her head while laughing*  
Rya "Sad I didn't stay in your suitcase, we could've had tons of fun!"  
Strife "It was a good thing we stopped the car..."  
Amicus *laughs and sees this written on the cake: 'Sonic and company belong to SEGA, BlackSandHeart owns the Dimension Jumpers, Strife the Dark 152 owns some ideas in the story (along with Strife, Zenox, and Fengari) and shares the character Alena with Blackie, and BlackStormNomad owns Aero, Robyn, and Kelly.'*  
Amicus *grins* "Thanks guys!"  
Raeweis "You're welcome! Good to have you back too!"  
Chaos *counts on his fingers* "One, five, nine... all of us are here now! Alright! Now let's celebrate!"  
UFO *runs into the room excitedly* "Guys...! I brought some gummy bears!"**

Chapter Twenty=

"Flame?!" Sierra gasped as her apparently, dead friend stood in front of her, giving Sierra a look as the Ultimate Project stumbled away and slammed its head into a nearby wall while releasing a screech.

"What's up Sierra?" Flame said with a smirk on her face. "Long time, no see, eh?"

Sierra's eyes narrowed. "How do I know this isn't a trick?"

Flame rolled her eyes. "Alright then, go ahead. Ask me any question."

"Where have you been?"

"Dead, in a place called the Dark Dimension, I've made a new team there and we've been keeping and eye on each other. Even if we've had a few… ah… issues recently. Anyways, I was running around with my team and we were suddenly here and saw you about to get eaten by Mr. Sharptooth over there." Flame explained while jerking a thumb back at the Ultimate Project as it slammed its head into the wall again, letting out another screech.

Sierra frowned, giving Flame a suspicious look. "Alright... then what's my favorite color?"

Flame rolled her eyes. "And since when has that ever changed? Royal purple."

There was a moment of silence until Sierra suddenly took a step forward and hugged Flame. The dark grey cat blinked in surprise as Sierra held onto her tightly, as if worried she was going to disappear forever. Sierra bit her lip as she felt tears slowly forming in the corners of her eyes. "Welcome back, Flames," She muttered as she let go of the embrace and looked at Flame silently.

Flame frowned. "Sierra...? Are you okay?"

"Flame!" A voice suddenly called out and Flame and Sierra both glanced up on top of a building to see a black cat standing up there. She had a pink stripe on her left ear and she had light colored hazel eyes that flashed in the light as she dropped down next to Flame. She brushed some dust off her black pants and stood up, looking at Sierra suspiciously as she showed Sierra the black tank top she was wearing. The black jacket she was wearing over the tank top was black as well with a bright pink lining on it and Sierra growled softly, flicking her wrist and revealing her black sword.

Sierra pointed her sword at the black cat, "Name?"

"Zenox…!" The cat said, while looking at the blade in surprise as Flame rolled her eyes.

"Honestly, Sierra," Flame said as she gently pushed the sword downwards, away from Zenox's face. "She's part of my team. She's not that bad of a person."

Sierra gave Zenox a cautious look as Zenox stared at Sierra. "So you're… Sierra…?"

"That's me."

Zenox blinked in surprise as Flame gave Sierra a serious look but said nothing.

Suddenly, the Ultimate Project reared towards them and let out another screech that made all three cats clamp their hands over their ears to avoid going deaf. Flame glared at the Ultimate Project. "Someone shut that thing up!" She yelled to the other two over the sound of the project's screech.

Zenox pulled out a black staff from midair with a faint purple and pink colored jewel at the top of it as she removed her hands from her ears. She flicked the staff gently in the Ultimate Project's direction, emitting a giant ball of fire from the edge of her staff. From there, it then shot towards the Ultimate Project at full speed. As the ball of fire shot towards the project, the thing quickly avoided the attack by jumping into the air and opening its large black wings. With a bit of wind, it launched itself high into the sky so it could avoid anymore attacks the three could give it.

Flame and Sierra removed their hands from their ears and looked up at the monster as Zenox looked at Sierra. "So, what is that thing?" She asked while pointing up to the project.

"They're calling it the Ultimate Project," Sierra said with a faint growl. "It's been terrorizing this dimension and it looks suspiciously like something Father Darkness would bring out to fight a Light Giver."

"Wait, hold on, what's been going on around here, Sierra? Ultimate Projects? Father Darkness?" Flame asked with a questioning look.

Sierra was about to speak when her ears twitched from a sound behind her. She suddenly spun around, raising her sword and slicing downwards as Flame then appeared in front of her and stopped Sierra from decapitating a figure that appeared from the darkness. "He's on my team too, Sierra," Flame said as she glanced back at the figure as he crossed his arms, scowling.

"I'd like to leave my head on my body, Sierra." The figure muttered. He had dark green eyes that seemed to be floating from the depths of the hood. The hood belonged to a long black jacket that almost touched the ground and was unzipped with silver drawstrings on it. With a white gloved hand, he took off the hood, revealing it to be a hedgehog whose green eyes matched his dark fur and blue stripes running along his quills. As the hedgehog stood taller next to Flame, Sierra noticed that his shoes looked similar to Shadow the hedgehog's but they were a pale black color with crystals lining the edges. A faint scar was noticeable on his chest where his heart should be at and another one was noticeable that went through his right eye. The hedgehog held a hand out to Sierra, "Strife the Dark."

Sierra sighed while waving Strife's hand away and looked at Flame. "So, how many people are on your _team_?"

Flame smirked, "Enough that I can kick your butt easily."

Sierra rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Whatever like that's true. Anyways, where's Terios? Shouldn't he be with you?"

Flame became quiet for a moment as Zenox glanced at Flame and Strife looked over at Sierra. Flame spoke up after a pause, looking up at Sierra as she spoke. "I don't know were he is, but his spirit is still watching over both of us. I can reassure you of that much. Anyways, there's just one more person left on my team. Hey, Strife where's Fengari?"

The hedgehog shrugged as Sierra flattened her ears sadly on the news that Terios wasn't here with them. "He said he had something to check out real quick,"

Flame nodded and looked at Sierra as she looked up and noticed the Ultimate Project flying high in the sky above them.

"Alright, I don't care _what_ is going on here and how you're alive again, Flame. But, sitting around here and wasting time will _not_ help me when it comes to stopping the Ultimate Project and Aero!" Sierra said angrily, glaring at each individual in turn.

Flame chuckled. "You never do change, do you?"

Sierra rolled her eyes and sighed angrily. "And that's coming from the girl that's still wearing the vest."

Flame scowled as Sierra turned and started running after the Ultimate Project as it flew off in the direction Aero was at. Flame lifted a hand and gently touched her grey vest as a blue wolf dropped out of the sky behind the group. "Humph, asking me to get rid of this is like asking me to lose my dignity." She muttered to herself.

"Hey guys, what did I miss?" Fengari, the blue wolf, asked as he lifted his black fingerless gloved hand with a crescent moon on it. The two cats and the hedgehog looked at the sky blue wolf as he spoke. He had an eye patch over his left eye with a crescent moon on it. The eye patch wasn't large enough to cover the entire scar that went through the place where his eye used to be. The only visible eye glowed a silvery color, like the wolf was blind as he looked at the group with a frown. The fur on the top of his head that acted like hair was white and spiked as it went down to his pale blue tail. Two large knives hung by the wolf's sides and he wore a hoodie with a crescent moon where Fengari's heart was supposed to be at. As soon as the wolf joined them, Zenox quickly explained herself, Strife, and Flame's quick encounter with Sierra.

Flame looked thoughtful as soon as Fengari was caught up in the situation they were in. "The Ultimate Project… I think this has to do something with the ARK, which doesn't make any sense. Since when has Sierra been working with Sonic the hedgehog? Last I saw her she was still running around as a Follower of Darkness."

"Things can change fast when you're not around," Zenox said to Flame as the dark colored cat glanced at her with a frown on her face.

Strife took a step forward and all looked to the hedgehog. "Well, sitting around here won't give us any answers. Let's go help her out and maybe then she can give us the answers we need."

The others nodded and the four of them ran in the direction Sierra went.

-XXXXXXXX-

"Duck!" Chaos cried to his siblings and both Shadow and Katherine ducked at the same time. If Katherine's ears were as long as they used to be, they would've been sliced clean off as a project that looked like a tiger used a sword that it had been carrying along to try slicing the sibling's heads off.

"Chaos!" Katherine called as she stood back up. "Behind you!"

Chaos spun around in surprise and shock to see that Maria was thrown to the ground and she let out a cry of fear as another project, that looked like the grizzly bear Chaos, Shadow, Katherine, Maria, and Alena took down earlier, loomed above her. "Maria!" Chaos cried and he charged forward and rammed his shoulder into the grizzly, knocking it off balance. He landed gently in front of Maria and held a hand out to her with a smile on his face. "You okay, Maria?"

Maria blushed as she took Chaos' hand. "I-I'm okay."

Shadow frowned and then got teleported onto a nearby roof as Katherine grabbed hold of his arm and appeared on a nearby rooftop. Another project slammed its deranged hand and formed a crater in the ground, right where Shadow and his sister used to be at.

Katherine glanced around and shook her head, she was breathing heavily and Shadow wasn't much better. They knocked down so many enemies they both lost count. They heard the sound barrier break and watched as Chase tackled an enemy traveling the speed of sound and both rolled around on the ground as Ria and Jason jumped forward to help out.

"What the heck?!" Katherine growled. "They're so many of these blasted projects…!"

"We can't focus on that now," Shadow said seriously as he stood silently next to his sister. "Let's help out the others. Standing up here catching our breath will not win us this war. Don't forget, we're saving the future here as well."

Katherine nodded and both teleported back into the fight as out of thin air behind them, Xsus, Cream, Cheese, and Sorro appeared. The four of them looked around and Xsus' eyes glanced down to the fight below. "Hey! There's Katherine!"

Sorro glanced over to a nearby rooftop as dust exploded along with someone crying out and after a moment when the dust had settled, he saw Robyn slowly pushing herself out of the remains of the building. He glanced over to another building close to where Robyn was and he saw Hydro having a fist fight with Aero. Sonic, Xerius, and Kelly on the other hand, were climbing onto the rooftops to help him out. "Look! There's Aero!"

The kids spun around, all looking in different directions as Charmy saw Espio running forward to help Vector out in a fight the crocodile was having. Cream glanced at the others. "Everyone stay careful!" She said with a smile when all realized they were all going to split up. "It'd be terrible if one of you died!"

Sorro laughed. "That'd be a terrible way to go!"

The group all jumped off the building in different directions. Sorro flew towards the fight with Aero, Charmy flew towards Vector and Espio, and Xsus and Cream dropped down onto the streets below to Katherine, Chaos, Maria, and Shadow.

As Charmy tackled the project Vector was having a fist fight with, Espio slid to a stop and the bee laughed at the stunned look on his face. Soon, the project was lying on the ground, motionless and unconscious. Charmy jumped to his feet then scrambled off the project while looking at Vector and Espio. "Hiya Espio! Hi Vector!"

"Charmy! Why you little…!" Vector lunged at Charmy as the bee jumped out of the way while laughing to himself.

"Na na! You can't get me!" Charmy taunted while Espio face palmed. After a moment of Vector trying to catch Charmy to no success, Espio looked up at Charmy.

"Charmy, what are you doing here?"

"Oh," Charmy grinned. "Well, Hydro woke up and then he took us all here to help out since he said you guys were going to need all the help you could get!"

"We don't need any help!" Vector growled at Charmy. "Go tell Hydro that!"

"Vector," Espio said as he crossed his arms. "Don't you see how much we _do _need their help? We're failing miserably at this fight and the projects are starting to overrun us, not to mention the Ultimate Project, that I doubt Sierra took care of, is still out there."

Vector sighed and then nodded. "Well... I guess you're right. Alright boys! Let's go knock out a few projects!"

"Yay!" Charmy grinned and lifted a fist into the air as Team Chaotix charged back into battle.

-XXXXXXXX-

Hydro skidded backwards on the rooftops, stopping too close to the edge for it to be a good thing. He was panting heavily as Sonic and Xerius charged at Aero. However, in a quick move, Aero punched Sonic in the gut and Xerius in the jaw, causing both of them to skid backwards too.

Robyn stumbled to her feet next to Hydro and lifted her fists. "We're not going to be able to hold him for much longer like this. It's almost like he's unstoppable!"

"We have to keep fighting!" Hydro growled as he took a step forward. "We're going to die anyways, Robyn, we might as well die fighting for a better cause!"

Aero chuckled as he turned to Hydro and Robyn. "Ready for round two…?" He asked while baring his teeth. Hydro lifted his katana and Robyn lifted her fists defensively until they heard a new voice call out.

"I'm ready!"

All glanced over in surprise to see a cat that looked similar to Xerius. His blue eyes flashed as he glanced at the crew around him then back at Aero as he put a hand in his bag.

Aero hissed. "Very well then, boy! You first!"

"Sorro! Watch out!" Hydro yelled as Aero jumped at Sorro and Sorro pulled out a bottle and unscrewed the lid, splashing the contents in Aero's face as the hedgehog slid to a stop before him, spluttering. Sorro let out a squeak and rolled out of the way as the liquid on Aero's face exploded, covering him in a ball of dust as everyone dropped to the ground for cover.

After a moment, Sorro started pulling himself to his feet as Xerius reached out and grabbed Sorro by the back of his shirt and dragged him over. _"Sorro…!"_ Xerius growled with an annoyed look on his face.

Sorro grinned at Xerius. "Hiya, dad! Hydro let me come!"

Xerius rolled his eyes and glared at Hydro.

"We can't just fight this fight on our own," Hydro said to him flatly.

"Hydro! Watch out!" Sonic yelped as Aero suddenly appeared out of the cloud of smoke and punched Hydro in the jaw, causing Hydro to fly right through a couple of buildings and slide on the ground before coming to a rest, and not getting back up.

Aero hissed as he panted heavily, his face was covered in scratches and bruises as his black eyes glowed with furious light. He turned to the others and hissed, baring his teeth as he looked at the group until he lifted a hand into the air once more. "I command for all projects to come to me!"

The entire city suddenly became dead silent. Fighting stopped on all sides of the city as the projects suddenly froze. Then, after a moment of silence, all the projects fell over and dissolved into nothingness, shocking everyone.

Sonic and everyone with him looked at Aero as he suddenly started glowing with a black kind of power. He showed his sharp fangs to the group and started laughing evilly, giving everyone the chills as he lifted his head into the air to make his laugh louder as he glowed.

"Everyone get off the building!" Sonic yelled, he had met one too many people who started glowing to know what kind of bad things could happen. Xerius, Sorro, Robyn, and Sonic dived off the building and rolled on the ground, covering their heads as a massive explosion echoed through the world, causing nearby skyscrapers to plummet to the ground.

After a moment, everyone slowly glanced up at the building to see Aero standing on top of it. He looked like the same evil hedgehog, but this time he was glowing with black energy that made him look like he was practically on fire as the black flames seemed to lick at his fur but Aero wasn't screaming with pain, in fact he looked more… powerful. Even the cuts and scratches everyone worked so hard to put on him in the first place had vanished entirely.

"I have absorbed every project's power that is still alive!" Aero said with a laugh. "You cannot stop me no matter how hard you try to now!"

"Why you…!" Sonic stumbled to his feet as he saw the other members of his team slowly running up around him to see what was going on since their enemies had dissolved into nothingness. Even Hydro was getting up not to far away. "You monster!"

"What? Me?" Aero said mockingly and let out another laugh.

"AERO!" A new voice yelled and all looked over to another rooftop and gaped when they saw none other than five people standing on the building, and only Sonic recognized the majority of all of them.

"No way…" Sonic breathed as he saw Strife, Fengari, Flame, Sierra, and another black cat.

Flame pulled out her sword angrily, her eyes flashing with a fiery kind of light while the others around her pulled out their own weapons. Zenox lifted her staff, Fengari pulled out his long knives, Sierra pulled out her own sword, and Strife conjured up a cutlass out of thin air. "I'm going to knock the lights out of you for destroying my home dimension, you hear me?!"

Katherine gaped as she stood next to her siblings and she turned to Shadow. "You know those moments where you think you're dreaming…?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because I am in one of those moments. She should be dead!" Katherine said while pointing a finger up at Flame.

Aero smirked at Flame as the cat growled. "What? You think you can stop me? Goodness me! And so far everyone who has said that has been proved wrong!"

"Then it's time for that to change…!" Sierra growled as she took a step next to Flame. Both cats glanced at each other and nodded then Flame glanced back at her team with a grin before all of them charged at Aero, jumping up and over the street that separated the streets before landing on the other side and charging Aero.

Fengari was the first to reach the hedgehog and swung both of his knives at the hedgehog, who easily side stepped the swings as Zenox jumped forward and released a bolt of lightning by using her staff. However, Aero easily dodged that blow too as Strife and Flame jumped forward and slashed forward at the same time. But, Aero stopped those moves with only his gloved hands and a chuckle escaping from his lips as he pushed both of them back towards the edge of the building. Flame almost toppled over the building but was caught by Strife as his quick movements grabbed her arm at the last moment.

Sierra however, kept her charge as she lifted her sword angrily, her ice blue eyes full of anger.

"By the Light Givers…!" Katherine suddenly started running forward and Windy glanced over at her in surprise as she ran past.

"Katherine?! What are you doing?!"

"It's a trap!" Katherine yelled back as she launched herself onto the building.

On the building, Aero suddenly grabbed Sierra's arm and smashed her into the ground as she let out a surprised cry. Aero leaned over her and showed her his sharp fangs while grinning. "I think you will become my first, tasty appetizer!"

Sierra's eyes widened in terror and she barely heard Flame scream her name behind her as Aero leaned towards her neck.

"Sierra!" A voice yelled and Aero was shoved off of Sierra. He rolled as he skidded away, over the edge of the building and then fell. The owner of the voice, Katherine, dropped down in front of Sierra, her sky blue eyes glowing angrily as she glanced back at Sierra on the ground.

Sierra was breathing heavily from the shock that she almost got bitten from an evil vampire to give much of a thought that she got saved by a Light Giver. Katherine turned to the Follower of Darkness and held a hand out to help her on her feet.

By now, the Follower of Darkness regained her composure and hissed at Katherine as she pushed herself to her feet, swatting Katherine's hand away as she did so. "I don't need your help, Katherine."

Flame paled and stared at Katherine while the black cat rolled her eyes, "You're welcome."

The rest of the group jumped onto the building and looked over the edge to see that Aero was slowly struggling to his feet and they all blinked in surprise when they saw the Ultimate Project swoop by while letting out a screech.

"How's that thing still alive?" Windy wondered aloud as she watched it fly off.

"Maybe Aero has another plan up his sleeve for that thing and didn't absorb the project's power yet..." Zap said thoughtfully.

"Tails!" Robyn suddenly called out, she looked around the crowd of mostly friends before her as they looked back at her. After a moment, the young kitsune pushed his way through the crowd towards his sister.

"Robyn!" Tails cried when he saw his sister. "You're okay!"

Robyn let out a sigh of relief as she jumped forward and hugged Tails tightly while both tried hard not to cry. "You're alive still! Thank Chaos…!"

"You're welcome," Chaos the hedgehog said with a grin and the others rolled their eyes or laughed quietly.

However, it was around then when the others finally noticed Katherine and Flame glaring each other down, both of them trying to fight back a snarl and both holding onto the swords they had in their hands tightly.

"Light Giver," Flame hissed.

"Follower of Darkness," Katherine growled.

An awkward moment of silence fell onto the group as Aero jumped onto a nearby building. He was still glowing with black energy and had a smirk on his face, like the kick Katherine used on him did nothing.

"You call yourself a hero but you really are a monster." Flame said darkly to Katherine.

"Take that back! I am anything but!" Katherine jumped at Flame and Chaos suddenly moved forward and grabbed Katherine's arm, stopping her from running Flame over and hacking at her with her sword.

Flame growled and was about to charge at Katherine herself when Strife took a step in front of her and shook his head when she glanced at him. "Now is not the time to be looking for revenge, Flame." He said to her seriously as Flame sighed angrily, crossing her arms and looking away from Katherine as the black cat growled and looked away too.

"What's the plan, Sonic?" Windy asked as she turned towards Sonic after another moment of silence.

Sonic frowned, looking thoughtful. "What I think we should do is split up. We only have two projects to worry about now; the Ultimate Project and Aero. If we can take both of them out then we win. It's just that simple."

"But both of those guys are so hard to beat…!" Xsus pouted, flattening his ears.

"You're not even supposed to be here," Zap scolded the boy, wagging his finger at him.

"Hydro let us come though!" Sorro sighed in disbelief. Everyone looked over at him as he looked at the group seriously as he stood next to Hydro and Xerius. "He said that you needed our help and that this mission was going to fail if _all_ of us didn't work together. This is an all or nothing fight, isn't it?"

Strife nodded. "The kid has a point."

"And who the heck are you, anyways?!" Knuckles demanded as he pointed a finger to the dark hedgehog. "How do we even know we can trust these guys? Besides, Sierra seems to know them and we all know how well to trust Sierra."

Sierra glared at him angrily as Sonic took a step forward. "Cut it out Knuckles, we can trust Sierra. Either that or you can't trust me anymore."

There was a moment of silence as everyone stared each other down and Tikal finally took a step forward. "Please," She begged quietly. "There is no need to fight. If we fight each other we will destroy ourselves and we do not need for that to happen at a time of need like this!"

Cosmo nodded in agreement, her eyes glazing over with sadness for a moment. "And destroying each other would mean that the future stays the way it is: doomed."

"I agree with the Echidna and the seedrian!" Aero called down. "If you are ever going to _dream_ of taking me down, then you're going to have to work together! But please! Don't! I'd love to watch you all kill each other instead." Aero smirked as he finished his statement and then crossed his arms.

"I call taking out Aero!" Robyn called and she charged at the dark colored hedgehog as he smirked and lifted his fists, making his entire body glow with even darker power.

"Robyn! Wait!" Sonic called but the fox didn't hear him as she charged and Sonic quickly turned to the group and pointed at Strife, Fengari, Zenox, and Flame. "They're Team Moon, Flame, Strife, Fengari… and I don't know the black cat's name. You can trust them. Alright, let's go!"

"How the heck did you know that?!" Flame demanded as Sonic turned and started charging towards Aero, right behind Robyn. However, the hedgehog didn't answer as the others looked at each other and Zap took a step forward to take charge.

"Alright people, you heard the hedgehog, split up. Half of you go after the Ultimate Project and the rest of you go get Aero. No one attack each other unless you have a good reason. Move out!" With that, Zap turned and started running after Sonic with Windy right behind him.

The rest of the group split up and Sierra was about to go after Aero when Flame stopped her by grabbing her arm and shook her head. "Come on Sierra, the Ultimate Project's this way. You are going to help us out, aren't you?"

Sierra sighed and then nodded to Flame as she followed the other members of Team Moon off the building and towards the Ultimate Project, who was spinning in circles in the air not too far away. She glanced back to see the others beginning the fight with Aero and a few of the others were running after her to assist them with the fight against the Ultimate Project. Sierra's eyes darkened for a moment as she looked back at Sonic. _Don't get yourself killed…_ She thought sadly to herself.

**You know what? It's lots of fun walking down the street whistling: "Boulevard of broken Dreams" by Green Day...**

**Windy "Wow... that was random."**

**Shut it you, you're just jealous you didn't walk down the street with me.**

**Windy "..." *shakes head slowly while I laugh***

**Anyways, please do leave a review and I'll see you when my next chapter comes out! I think after this my updates will be irregular unless I say so, so just keep an eye out for BlackSandHeart's next chapter **_**or**_** be reasonable and follow my story haha. Well, later!**

**Notes= Strife posted the next chapter to his story... and I laughed many times while reading it.  
Amicus put up the first chapter to her first story! Go read it! Even if you're confused, READ IT.  
Chaos put up another chapter on his... and I still hate Towers by the way, Chaos.**


	21. Chapter 21

***sighs* "ZAP! Did you let the evil OCs into my house?!"**

**Zap *shrugs* "I didn't do it for once. All I've done this week was screwed with your internet connection again." *smirks***

***glares* "Well, we might as well go find a bomb shelter and hope for the best now.**

**Zap *sighs* "Or we can just knock the lights out of them."**

***nods* "I like that plan too... anyways, uh before I go, thanks to the Ohana for reviewing!**

**Strife= *grins* Welcome, Zenox, and I'll keep that in mind. *laughs* Don't worry, everyone will, hopefully, know more about you soon.  
Flame *scowls* "You're lucky you have proven a point there."  
Katherine "Anger issues?!"  
Flame *snickers* "You have plenty of them, Kathy."  
Katherine *glares***

**Storm= Team Future... huh that actually works! Haha!  
Flame *sighs and gives you the peace sign*  
So yes! Team Moon's back! Now to knock the lights out of Aero and the U.P.!**

**Retto= Thank you! That's why I never really use Eggman as a bad guy.  
*laughs* wow... that... that might be a good thing though. Glaring doesn't get a lot of people anywhere...  
Well, glad to see you still enjoy those voices, even when they all have the same voice basically.  
I don't know... why were you?  
Xsus *lets out a cry when the blade of water hits him and flips backwards. But does a hand stand before looking up at you with a frown on his face* "Ow!" *falls forward and gets back up standing and swings his sword around* "Okay! Back to round two!" *flings another water whip at you***

**Raeweis= *busts up laughing* THANK YOU! I always thought that about Chris... so very annoying... so yeah, Aero's a vampire. When I read the story too I basically fell out of the chair I was sitting in.  
Sierra "I don't..." *looks at Flame* "Gah! Whatever!" *marches off angrily*  
And yes! Team Moon's back! Now things are going to get interesting...**

**UFO= *blinks as you slowly turn off the computer* Wow... talk about dramatic... *grins then applauds*  
Agreed. All evil bad guys do that sooner or later with the 'absorbing their minions' move. But glad you like how we share OCs! I think it started because of Strife when he asked for one of mine.  
But hey! Maybe you'll go on vacation soon someday! And thanks for letting me know, bro (we are part of an Ohana...). I hope you come back soon! But, it's probably best you get your life in order first though. I hope to see you around soon! Here, take some gummy bears. That might help out a little *grins and hands some over***

**Rya= Touche... that would be quite creepy...  
*laughs* What if they did? You know how funny that'd be? "Oh look, Jupiter's on Ebay again for a trillion dollars..."  
Zap *shrugs* "We can't just let the author tell you everything."  
Same here! Every time I hear that song, I can't last five seconds without looking back and expecting something to be behind me.  
Exactly!  
They got your letter?! Did they send one back?! What does it say?!  
Yes... some major issues...  
*laughs* I put it on her profile... it makes me laugh every time I see it now.  
Flame *glances over at Sierra and nods at you* "It's a deal."  
Sierra "Don't tell her **_**anything**_**...!"  
FD *rubs the side of his face and glances at me* "Can I...?"  
No. You can't blow Rya up for smacking you on the side of the head- since you deserved it.  
FD *growls angrily* "I'm leaving." *picks up his axe and walks out the door*  
Katherine *grins* "Yes! I got a hug for saving someone who wants me dead!"  
Sierra *glares* "I hate you."  
Katherine *sticks her tongue out at Sierra* "Don't be jealous."  
*looks at the fourth wall that has fallen over again then glances at Sierra* Uh... yeah... you kind of knocked it over again... let's not tell Zap about this... *backs away slowly***

**Chaos= *laughs* I love using that joke too.**  
**Flame *looks at Chaos and nods* "Shadow said the same thing basically. You can ask him why he has a cut on the side of his head if you want to." *smirks***

**Amicus= Oh so cool!  
Sierra "I... am not going to say anything about that anymore."  
Flame *smirks* "Thank you."  
Aw... poor sister *sighs* she shall never understand the horrors Aero can do :P But glad you're liking it!  
Xsus *grins and hands you the cake* "It's chocolate! ...hope you like it!"**

**Disclaimer= Also given to you by Rya. I guess she wanted to see this one finished so why not? Remember back when we were doing Neverland...? Yeah... thought so...  
Strife *slides to a stop and pulls out a cutlass before blocking a pirate's attack* "Here! The life boats are over here!"  
Rya *grabs a bear bottle and smashes it onto a pirate's head then blinks in surprise as she sees a paper fall out of it. Picks up the paper and opens it* "Guys! I found the disclaimer!"  
UFO "Hang on, don't read it yet! We need to get off the boat first...!"  
Storm *pushes a pirate overboard and hopes onto a life boat with Strife, Raeweis, and Amicus.* "Come on!"  
Amicus "Heads!" *all duck as a pirate is throw over their heads and Chaos jumps into the boat with a grin*  
Chaos "Hi people!"  
Retto *climbs into the boat too with Rya and Blackie* "We should get out of here... the boat's starting to sink..."  
Blackie *slices one of the ropes keeping the lifeboat on the ship and the little rowboat falls into the ocean with a splash and points at a nearby island* "There. Quick! Row to Neverland!"  
Rya "Can I read the disclaimer first...?"  
*all look at her*  
Rya *takes a deep breath* "'Sonic and company belong to SEGA, Blackie owns the Dimension Jumpers, Storm owns Aero, Kelly, and Robyn. Strife owns Strife, Fengari, and Zenox along with some ideas in the story and shares the character Alena with Blackie. And Chaos owns Chaos'. There. That's it! We can go now!"  
*all become quiet as the pirate ship suddenly explodes not too far away*  
Raeweis "What do you think Peter's going to say about this...?"**

**Note: for anyone that's wondering what caudex means, it's basically Latin for idiot. Just thought I'd clear that one up.  
**

Chapter Twenty-One=

"How do we get the thing to come down here?" Zenox asked as she looked up at the Ultimate Project circling high in the sky above them in the empty square. She glanced at the others in her group, Strife, Flame, Fengari, and Sierra while the others who had tagged along stood a ways off, also looking up at the project.

"We need someone who can fly…" Sierra muttered as she glanced back to the people in the other group.

"'Someone who can fly'?" Flame echoed, "Since when has someone in our dimension been able to fly without wings?"

"Hey!" Sierra called to the others and waved a hand at the other group while ignoring Flame. "Get over here!"

The entire group scrambled forward and Sierra's eyes flashed as she looked at the group now before her. It wasn't an interesting looking team, but it was good enough. The group before her contained: Kelly, Omega, Rouge, Sorro, Xsus, Cream, Cheese, the water element Chaos, Tikal, Team Chaotix, and Tails. Her icy blue eyes flashed as she looked up at the sky and then at the group.

Fengari stepped forward before Sierra could open her mouth to give orders, and he did it in a much more effective way then Sierra could ever dream of. "Alright, how many of you can fly?"

Xsus, Sorro, Cream, Cheese, Rogue, Tails, and Charmy raised their hands.

"And can fly _fast_?"

Sorro, Xsus, and Rouge kept their hands in the air.

"Really fast?"

Rouge glanced over at Sorro and Xsus and put her hand down with a sigh. "I know those two fly faster than I ever could." She said as she winked at Sorro, whose face turned red with embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Xsus laughed while Fengari snapped, getting both boys' attention, "Okay, there's no time to be messing around right now. Here's what I want you two to do: go up there and bring the Ultimate Project to the ground. If we bring it to the ground, it'll be easier to fight."

Flame frowned and pointed at Sorro's bag. "You might want to take your purse off if you want to fly faster."

Sorro glared at Flame. "I am not taking this off! And it's not a purse! It's a bag!"

Flame rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright! Sorry!"

Fengari chuckled and waved a hand at the boys. "Okay, go!"

"You might want to hurry," Strife added. "The longer you wait the more time you waste and the others could be getting killed right now."

Sorro and Xsus glanced at each other nervously before both bent down and launched themselves into the air, much to the surprise to the newcomers. "Who knew people could fly in our dimension…?" Flame muttered to Sierra.

Sierra smirked. "You've been gone for a _long_ time, Flame."

Up in the sky, even higher than the Ultimate Project was, Sorro and Xsus floated in the air, looking at the dark beast underneath them with a frown on both of their faces. "How are we going to get that thing to touch the ground?" Xsus asked Sorro worriedly.

"Um… I don't know…" Sorro said with a frown and looked at Xsus. "Maybe we could just knock it to the ground with some move."

"Like… this?" Xsus grinned suddenly and dropped, hurtling towards the Ultimate Project and landing on its back. He let out a wild shout as the Ultimate Project let out a screech and started shooting around the square, almost knocking into buildings as it screeched.

"Ye haw!" Xsus laughed while clutching onto the Ultimate Project's black fur tightly with one hand and lifting his other hand into the air like this was a rodeo. "Come on, little doggy! Is that the best you got?!"

Sorro laughed as Xsus galloped in some strange sort of way around the square, but the Ultimate Project wasn't losing or gaining altitude so the others couldn't help with the fight. Kelly frowned as she looked up at the fight. "He's not getting any closer… now what? I say I could use my Arctic Fire ability to knock him out of the sky but that might not work well now that Xsus is on its back."

Strife frowned and looked up at Sorro. "Hang on, I think the other kid has an idea…"

Espio also frowned as he looked up at the sky. "Whatever the plan is, they might want to hurry up at it. They're running out of time."

Everyone glanced over to the other square and could only watch as a skyscraper tumbled to the ground and all did _not_ want to know what was happening with the battle against Aero at the moment.

High above them, Sorro grinned as he pulled out another bottle from his bag. He showed a confident grin to Xsus below. "Hey Xsus! Prepare yourself!"

Xsus glanced up and blinked as Sorro suddenly stopped using his energy to fly, staying suspended in the air for a moment before dropping down onto the project and spilling the contents of the bottle onto the project's back as he grabbed Xsus' arm and yanked him off the project with him. The liquid solidified, turning into ice that stretched up the project's wings and froze them instantly, causing the project to drop and crash hard into the ground as Sorro and Xsus rolled, and came back standing.

"Haha! We're alive!" Xsus cried and he kissed the ground to show his thankfulness.

Kelly and Cream laughed at Xsus' behavior as the Ultimate Project let out a screech. Omega then lifted his guns next to Rouge. "READY TO FIRE."

"Fire away, big boy." Rouge laughed and Omega opened fire on the project, shooting missiles and bullets at the project multiple times. Smoke from the attacks soon covered the project's body from view and after a moment, Omega stopped firing and his guns slowly turned back into hands.

However, suddenly jumping out of the darkness, the Ultimate Project lunged out towards Omega as Sierra suddenly jumped forward and pushed the big robot out of the way while Sorro pulled Rouge out of the way. However, the project managed to smash Sierra into the ground while the others got out of the way.

The cat let out a gasp as the project's large claws started to squeeze into her chest, forcing the oxygen out of her lungs and slowly cutting at her skin.

"Aw great, how many times is she going to almost die today?" Flame grumbled as she started to charge at the monster with a few others but slid to a stop when she felt a dark feeling suddenly dropped down onto the square. Everyone else had to have felt it too, even Omega and the Ultimate Project, because the entire square froze in shock.

Then, the project flew into a wall by an invisible force, it crashed into it with a cry and everyone took a startled step back as a figure in a black cloak dropped down in front of Sierra as the black cat coughed and sucked in air greedily as she sat up.

The figure stood up tall and readied the huge double sided axe it held in its small left hand, blood dripped from the edge of the blade as the project slowly pushed itself out of the rubble and let out a screech at the figure. The black cloak that the figure wore blew in the wind, giving the figure an ominous look.

The figure chuckled darkly as it reached up and lifted its pale white hand and it pulled back the hood of the cloak. As the hood fell off the figure's head, it revealed the owner had shaggy black hair and lightless black eyes along with pale white skin. A smirk was on his face as he looked at the project before him. "You seem to be ready for a world of pain, pest." When he spoke, the temperature in the square dropped at least twenty degrees.

"F-father Darkness…" Flame gasped as her eyes grew big while the leader of the Follower of Darkness glanced back down at Sierra.

"Get up, I will not stand and let you grovel on the ground like that."

Sierra flinched and nodded as she stumbled to her feet, gasping to herself as Father Darkness turned his soulless eyes onto the Ultimate Project. "Heh," He smirked once again. "Aren't you an interesting character? I suppose it's no surprise though that Gerald found records of my creations."

"What are you talking about?" Sorro sighed. "Father Darkness…! You're so confusing…!"

Kelly frowned as she looked at Father Darkness. "What are you even doing here?"

Father Darkness raised an eyebrow at the two. "Very well, I suppose it's time for me to explain myself. I am not from the future, I am from this current time period."

"You're… what?!" Sorro fell over as the others stared at him in shock

FD sighed and shook his head. "I was enjoying an average day of ruling the Followers of Darkness when _he_ showed up right in front of me. Although, I suppose it wasn't much of a surprise for either of us, we both knew that we were expecting the other. _He_ told me that while I sat here patiently on my throne that the other world was dying ever so slowly. _He _said that my help was greatly needed for you lower life forms."

"Enough riddles," Strife growled as he took a step forward, causing Father Darkness' black eyes to land on the dark hedgehog. "Who are you and who is this person you're speaking of?"

FD sighed after giving Strife a suspicious, but knowing look. "I am called many things, but you may call me Father Darkness, Strife the Dark. I rule the Followers of Darkness after poisoning the former leader. As for the person I am talking about… is myself from the future. He claimed to have escaped from another time after blowing up this planet in the future, but that is beside the point. He was from the future and that is all that matters to all of you."

Strife blinked in surprise. "How…?"

"Don't ask, only observe and stay quiet. I know many things because of my future self now. Since both Time and Space has been unraveled, it is the only explanation on why you and your members of Team Moon are here." Father Darkness snapped, lifting a finger warningly.

The Ultimate Project screeched as it looked over at Father Darkness and FD flicked his hand, sending the creature crashing into another wall as he smirked. "I must admit, that I never thought Gerald would be able to find any use of my old notes."

Cream huddled behind Xsus. "That boy is really scary, Xsus…!"

Xsus frowned as he glanced back at Cream. "Don't worry! You're safe as long as you're with me!"

Father Darkness continued as he looked at the project. "The funny thing about this project, is that it is something I created years ago. With the ability to manipulate darkness, I can turn darkness into anything I want it to be. A wolf, a bird, or this… except this idea was totally useless to me. The design made it so that the thing had hardly a brain, so I threw the plans out to another dimension, and I suppose that it was this dimension where Gerald found the notes and recreated my beautiful creation of darkness. But alas, it's still as brainless as it was before with only four objectives keeping it from falling apart: listen to the master, hunt, kill, and eat. No wonder it's labeled as a failed project."

The Ultimate Project pulled its head out of the wall and let out a screech at Father Darkness before flicking its wings, breaking the ice that had stopped it from flying. It then took to the skies and flew off, towards the direction where Aero was fighting with the others.

"Where is it going?" Cosmo asked as she stood next to Tails, watching the project fly off. All seemed to forget about the leader of the Followers of Darkness for a moment as they watched it fly away.

"It can't be anywhere good," Vector muttered. "We have to stop that thing!"

"After it!" Flame yelled and started running down the road after the project with the others following her… except Sierra and Father Darkness.

Sierra dipped her head to Father Darkness as soon as the others were out of earshot. "Thank you for coming… my lord."

Father Darkness' eyes narrowed as he walked by Sierra, his black cloak making a swishing noise as he walked past her. "Do not think I am doing this for your own gain. I've had my eye on that relationship of yours for awhile now, Sierra. If he gets in my way, I will kill Sonic myself and I will let you watch him die."

Sierra said nothing, but she did grit her teeth in frustration as Father Darkness then started running after the group, flicking his hand and removing his bloody axe from existence as he ran.

-XXXXXXXX-

_Fifteen minutes ago…_

"He's over here!" Katherine yelped as she did a back flip to avoid a blow Aero sent her way. The hedgehog seemed to be moving at an impressive speed, seeming to teleport around the battle field and punching, kicking, or doing any other move to each of the heroes as he moved by. The worst part was that no one seemed to land an attack back at him, he was just moving too fast.

Chaos the hedgehog lifted his arms to a shape of an X as Aero appeared and threw a punch in Chaos' way, but didn't teleport away as he blocked the blow. Both hedgehogs glared at each other before going to a full out fist fight with Chaos getting hit with most of the blows until Aero finally did an uppercut, knocking Chaos off his feet and having him slide away.

"Chaos!" Katherine and Maria screamed at the same time.

The red hedgehog slowly pushed himself to his feet, laughing weakly, but he looked pretty banged up. "I-I'm good you guys…!" He then pulled out two dual blades that he had kept hidden and lifted them up for Aero to see as he stood in front of the hedgehog.

"Well then, maybe this could change that then!" Aero said as he lifted a hand to blast Chaos. "Chaos…!"

"No!" Maria jumped in front of Chaos and spread her arms out wide as the red hedgehog lifted his blades to block the attack. "You can't hurt him! I won't let you!"

"Such a spirited little girl!" Aero chuckled as he showed her his fangs. "You'd be my favorite flower in my garden if someone else didn't look more… beautiful." With that, Aero glanced back at Robyn as she paled and got a disgusted look on her face all at the same time.

Sonic jumped forward and lifted a fist backwards. "Why you...! Take this…!" He swung the fist at the hedgehog as he ducked and jumped out of the way of the blow.

As he jumped away, Xerius suddenly jumped forward, his claws unsheathed and started slicing at Aero. The hedgehog managed to dodge all of his blows until Xerius finally managed to give Aero a good sized three clawed cut running down the side of his face then Xerius jumped away before Aero could land a blow on the cat.

Aero hissed angrily as the cut stung and glared at Xerius as he gently reached up and wiped the blood off his face with his glove. "You little pest…!"

_"That was for Sorro in the future!" _Xerius growled, showing Aero his teeth in the form of a snarl.

Aero growled at Xerius and the two started fighting once again as Katherine and Shadow ran up to Chaos and bent down beside him as he fell over again. "Chaos, are you okay?!" Katherine demanded as she and Maria helped the red hedgehog sit up.

"I'm fine…!" Chaos insisted as his sister and Maria looked at him with worried looks on both of their faces while Shadow bent down next to him to help Chaos stay sitting up.

Katherine spun on Aero as the hedgehog managed to punch Xerius away and he crashed into a stumbling Robyn and both fell down hard. Katherine clenched her fists while glaring at Aero. "Aero…! You're the worst brother a sister could ever ask for!"

Aero glanced back with an amused look on her face as Katherine jumped to her feet and pulled out her glowing white sword. She pointed it at the hedgehog while her sky blue eyes showed a hidden rage. "You…! I'd rather believe Sierra being my sister then believing I'm related to _you_!"

There was a shocked moment of silence as Katherine growled and suddenly jumped at Aero, lifting her sword into the air as the hedgehog jumped out of the way. "Chaos Blast!" Aero called as he landed on his feet and shot out a bolt of bright light but the black cat rolled out of the way at the last moment. She glanced over at Aero as Robyn jumped forward to help her out.

"Take this!" Robyn held out her hands and blasted the dark hedgehog with her Starfire abilities as Aero jumped out of the way, barely avoiding the attack as his fur glowed with black energy.

Sonic then charged forward to use his spin dash move but slid to a stop when Aero lifted out both of his hands and used Chaos Control to blast in both directions, missing Robyn and Katherine as Katherine teleported both of them out of the way. Sonic, on the other hand, felt himself get knocked off his feet as a blast of hot heat and energy smashed into him. He collided with a nearby building and let out a cry as the building toppled over on top of him.

"Sonic!" He heard Amy cry from above as Sonic stumbled out of the remains of the building, finding himself breathing heavily and feeling like Xsus on a sugar high was running around inside his head swinging a mallet around in random directions.

Shadow turned onto Aero on the rooftops and both threw a Chaos Spear at each other as Knuckles and Shade dived forward and both did an uppercut on Aero at the same time, causing the hedgehog to flip over backwards and crash hard onto the ground, but he got back up quickly, hissing ever so slightly.

_We could actually lose this…_ Sonic thought to himself and he felt horror course through him as he thought this. Even when they were fighting Terrarock things weren't this desperate. Sure they did at some points, when Zap became evil and Sierra was working for the enemy but they weren't this bad. Even the hedgehog Nazo wasn't so bad in the land of Darrius. Both of those enemies looked like pushovers compared to Aero at this point.

Aero let out an evil laugh as both Robyn and Katherine missed their combined attack and Aero used Chaos Control to get behind them. The two girls spun around but got knocked off their feet as Aero used a dark blast of energy to knock them off their feet. The girls crashed onto the ground hard and struggled back to their feet as Aero continued laughing.

Suddenly, Amy charged forward, lifting her hammer into the air and crying out a battle cry. "This is what you get for hurting my Sonikku!" She cried and Sonic managed to laugh weakly as he pulled himself out of the rubble. Even after the incident with him and Sierra she still seemed persistent to make him hers, just like she said she would.

Aero jumped out of the way as Amy swung her hammer at thin air then spun on him, swinging her hammer in random motions. Alena hopped forward too and started trying to take Aero out from behind while Amy charged at the front. The white fox and the pink hedgehog managed to land a few blows on Aero, but they seemed to do nothing as well.

Jason suddenly jumped forward when Aero got lucky and shoved Alena into the arms of a stunned Shadow and both fell over next to Chaos as Maria checked his wounds with a worried look on her face. He then spun onto Amy and kicked her out of the way and she slid into Knuckles, causing both to fall over.

Maria glanced back at Shadow and Alena in surprise then returned her attention back to Chaos, who had passed out cold moment earlier, as the two struggled to get to their feet, both of their faces red.

Jason smirked. "Hey! Aero! Pick on someone your own size!"

Aero glanced back and glared as Jason held his hands out and they caught on fire on their own. Aero's eyes narrowed and he looked at Jason with a frown. "What are you exactly?"

"A pyrokinesis, so, this means I can burn you." Jason jumped forward and threw a flaming fist Aero's way and he barely had time to jump back and avoid it. However, Jason did a quick back flip, fire suddenly appearing out of thin air by his feet and when Aero barely avoided this attack, he got kicked in the jaw. That caused him to flip back and over and Jason jumped back as Aero jumped back to his feet.

"Oh come on!" Chase grumbled as he stood next to Ria, clenching his fist tightly. "There seems to be no way to stop this guy! Every attack we give him he just gets back up like nothing happened!"

Ria shook her head as Maria turned to him. "We must always keep the hope that we have…" Maria said softly and then turned her attention back to the unconscious Chaos. "Ria, do you think you can heal Chaos' wounds so he can help the others? I'm sure he could heal himself but..."

Ria nodded as she jumped forward and sat down next to Chaos as the others continued fighting Aero desperately. She held her hands out over Chaos' chest and closed her eyes to concentrate as her hands glowed blue. After a moment, all the cuts and other wounds Chaos had gotten slowly started to fade away and in another moment, Chaos sat up with a jolt while Ria passed out cold.

Chaos looked at Ria as Chase walked over and sighed. He bent down and carefully pulled Ria up in his arms before nodding to Chaos and Maria, then walking off to the other side of the battle field like nothing happened.

Below them, Sonic stumbled to his feet and looked over at Robyn and Katherine as they looked over at him. The three of them slowly huddled together, all looking up at the dark, night sky worriedly before back at each other. "We need to take Aero out, but how?" Sonic asked the others.

Robyn looked thoughtful while rubbing her head, looking thoughtful. "There's a secret way on taking out vampires, but it's really dangerous and hard to do. And it might not even work."

"Don't second guess yourself, tell us what it is! It's better than nothing!" Katherine said hopefully.

Robyn nodded. "Well, what you first have to do to do is weaken him, then drive an electrified steak through his heart, then burn him and scatter the ashes..."

Katherine frowned. "That's it?"

Robyn nodded as she turned her green gaze over to Katherine, "That's it."

Sonic turned his attention back to the building, causing Katherine and Robyn to look over at him. "Then let's do it." Then the three of them jumped into the air and back into the fight.

**Terrarock "I am the ultimate monster!"**

**Aero "Oh really? Then explain to me why you died twice."**

**FD *smirks* "And explain to me why one of those times you were killed by me. So much for being the 'ultimate monster'."**

**Terrarock *glares* "I will control you both!"**

**FD *pulls out an axe and slams the flat of it on Terrarock's head* "We all know who the ultimate monster is. It's me."**

**Aero *sighs* "Pitiful, FD. But we all know I am the ultimate."**

**FD *glances at Aero* "Is that so?"**

**Flame *walks into the room carrying a shotgun. Smirks when both look at her in surprise* "Alright, get out of the house."**

***walks in and sighs as FD, Terrarock, and Aero vanish* Well, that got rid of them. Thanks Flame.**

**Flame *nods and walks out of the room***

**Anyways, hope you liked the chapter! I plan to post the next chapter soon... I don't know when though. But see you around readers! And please do leave a review!**

**Xsus *grins* "You getta cupcake if you do!"**


	22. Chapter 22

***looks further along the chapter with a frown* I hope they like how insane this story is about to get.**

**Katherine *shrugs* "Only one way to find out!"**

**Touché... Okay thanks to the Ohana for reviewing! -Okay the majority of it. Hope to see you around soon, UFO!**

**Chaos= FD "You? The Ultimate Monster? Ha. That is quite funny."**  
**Katherine *tear drop* "You aren't even laughing."**  
**FD "Of course not, little girl."**  
**Katherine *glares***  
**FD *smirks and vanishes***  
**Caudex, okay so for your question... I've never actually thought about that yet. Anything like mildly important? No... although hang on she did get changed by light energy... I'm sure she can use light energy... hmmm...**  
**Oh and for your message, I put it up at the end of the chapter *grins* hope that works for you, bro!**  
**Xsus "Enjoy the cupcake!" *waves excitedly***

**Storm= *looks farther down the chapter with a frown* I hope you at least like this one. Things are about to get really interesting...**  
***laughs* I love giving the peace sign to my friends too! Although, I don't do it as much as I used to now. And yeah, Flame can make anyone laugh.**  
**Weakening Aero... I hope my idea worked... *suddenly grins* Oooo! Spoiler alert!**  
**Xsus *pokes Kelly while laughing* "Remember when I rode the UP like a bull...?" *looks at you* "Oh! Enjoy that cupcake for me! Blackie won't let me have one..." *pouts***

**Rya= Xsus *hands you a cupcake then runs off laughing wildly***  
***watches him run before turning to you* Uhhh okay. Anyways, hmm... I don't know. If I had Jupiter I'd investigate the "Great Red Spot" on Jupiter just for the heck of it *grins*. I know, and that's coming from the weather geek.**  
**Zap *nods* "I will not deny that."**  
**Yeah... really creepy...**  
***laughs***  
**Flame *glances at Sierra with a smirk while she scowls***  
**Sierra "FINE. I'll tell her...!" *grabs Flame's arm and marches to the other side of the room***  
**Flame *glances back at you and gives you a thumbs up***  
***watches you go after FD while trying not to laugh* Uhhh... yeah. I think he did.**  
**FD *looks back at you* "Am I your least favorite again?"**  
**Sierra *shrugs* "You got me confused too. I usually see these traps coming... but... apparently not anymore."**  
***looks at the fourth wall then at you* "Good thing Zap's not here, huh?"**  
**No... Peter will not be happy about this... *shakes head slowly***  
**FD *smirks* "Yes. I'm responsible for all this. And much more. You'll see soon."**  
***laughs* Alright, when they argue again I'll bring you over!**

**Raeweis= Xsus *Laughs while handing you a cupcake***  
**You have a dog named Blackie...? Huh... *laughs* Well... I do like dogs... Black Labrador I suppose? Since its name_ is_ "Blackie..." But glad to see you were surprised! FD does have the tendency of doing the strangest things...**  
**Zap *smirks and lifts a spoon for you to see* "I like that plan very, very much."**  
**But yeah, the electrified stake idea was Nomad's idea since I had to ask her about it. Ha. **  
**Hmm... being able to fly... *grins* Disclaimer idea!**

**Strife= Glad you liked the chapter! I worked kind of hard on that one.**  
**Flame *looks at the three of them* "I didn't fight either. And I made the author fix that part, Strife. Don't worry."**  
**Xsus *hands you a cupcake then runs off laughing like a madman with Sorro*  
Flame *looks over and face palms***

**Retto= *shrugs* He just annoyed me. He was very, very, over dramatic, always asking for help.  
*looks at the words with a frown* Is there a difference besides the lettering...?  
Hmm... I think it'd be more ridiculous health if you ask me...  
*waves* Hey Allen! Good to have you with us! Hope you're liking the story...  
Xsus *frowns and suddenly becomes quite serious before floating an inch off the ground with his arms crossed* "Do you want to keep this fight going, Retto? Now catch!" *throws a cupcake at you*  
**

**Amicus= Xsus *giggles* "Silly! We wouldn't do that!" *hands you a cupcake before running off laughing like a fool*  
*Grins* Yes... huh... Sonic vs. FD... that would be an interesting fight...  
By the Alvainians, how late up were you while posting that? And yes, the Xsus and UP was supposed to be funny... and Flame can make just about anyone laugh.  
Flame "Can I get a prize for being an apparent comedian?"  
Yes. *hands one over*  
Flame *smirks* "Win."  
**

**UFO= *frowns* ...  
Hope to see you soon, bro. Have a gummy bear. *hands one over along with a cupcake*  
**

**DISCLAIMER= Thanks goes to Raeweis for giving me this idea! *grins* Thanks Raeweis! Rya, that other one you offered... I'll do it in the next chapter. But anyways, this is a bounce off from the last chapter...  
Blackie *looks at Strife's pirate hat* "Are you going to ever take that thing off?"  
Strife "No. I'm the pirate now."  
Blackie *face palms while laughing*  
Raeweis *looking around* "Does anyone see a fairy around here?"  
Storm *frowns* "A fairy? What do you need a fairy for?"  
Raeweis "To fly of course!"  
Rya *starts looking around* "Alright, if that's the case then I'll help you out! I want to fly too!"  
Retto "Maybe you don't need a fairy. Maybe you just need to think happy thoughts."  
Raeweis "That's an idea..." *Suddenly sees a piece of paper flying through the air and catches it* "Um... what's this...? Oh the disclaimer. 'Sonic and company belong to SEGA, Blackie owns the Dimension Jumpers, Chaos owns Chaos, Storm owns Aero, Robyn, and Kelly, and Strife owns Strife, Zenox, and Fengari along with sharing the character Alena with Blackie'." *looks down and notices she's ten feet off the ground* "What the...?!"  
Chaos *looking up at Raeweis* "Who knew you could fly while reading a disclaimer?"  
Amicus "That's amazing! Let me read it! Let me read it! I want to fly!"  
Raeweis "Hang on! I'm flying here! Wait... how do I get down...?"  
UFO "Think of something sad...?"  
**

Chapter Twenty-Two=

Sonic, Robyn, and Katherine landed on the rooftops as Aero continued fighting with Jason, but Jason was getting beaten up badly as Chaos jumped forward to assist him. The duo threw random punches at Aero's direction but he dodged all of them skillfully while letting out a dark laugh.

"Come on, is that the best you two possibly have?" Aero asked mockingly.

Chaos jumped back and lifted a hand towards Aero. "Jason! Get out of the way!"

Jason glanced back at Chaos then rolled out of the way as Chaos yelled, "Chaos BLAST!" A beam of bright energy shot towards Aero and the hedgehog tightened himself into a ball and rolled out of the way.

Robyn turned towards the others. "I need a stake, a wooden stake, does anyone have one?"

Chase frowned. "What the heck do you need a stake for?"

Alena glanced over and noticed a large stick lying not too far away. She pointed to the stick while looking over at Robyn. "Will that stick do?"

Robyn frowned and shrugged. "If it's wooden, it has to work... we just have to sharpen the edge so it can get through Aero's heart..."

Maria gasped, putting a hand to her mouth as she did so. "Wait, you're going to try killing Aero with it?"

Hydro frowned. "But when we tried this in the future with a _real_ stake..."

Robyn sighed. "I know, I know, it didn't work. But it has too! The future already changed so much I can't see how this _wouldn't_ work!"

Alena hopped off the building and started running for the stick as Aero suddenly shoved Jason backwards. Jason let out a yelp as he was thrown off the building but used his energy to keep him suspended in the air. He smirked as Aero glared at him. "I can fly, smart one." Jason said to him flatly.

Aero jumped at the cat as Jason shot high into the air and the hedgehog slid to a stop when he noticed Alena running towards the stick. He hissed angrily and started running towards her instead.

Shadow growled and suddenly tackled Aero before he got off the building. "You can't touch her...!" He growled as the two started throwing wild punches at each other.

Alena glanced back in shock as she slid to a stop next to the stick and picked it up. She glanced up at the building to see the others watching her and a few helping Shadow pin Aero to the ground.

"Robyn!" She called as she threw the stick like a major league baseball pitcher would. "Catch!"

Robyn reached out and caught the stick, but it stabbed into her hand and she let out a cry as it dropped to the ground. She looked at her hand in horror as blood slowly leaked out of the wound as Maria picked up the stick next to her and looked at it. "It looks sharp enough to use against Aero. What's the next step, Robyn? Robyn...?"

Robyn stumbled and fell to a knee and shook her head. "I-I...!"

Hydro paled. "Oh no... why now, why now?! Robyn!" Hydro bent down next to her and took Robyn's hand in his own, even with Robyn bleeding onto his white glove. He forced the fox to look at him when he flicked her wrists gently. "Robyn, come on, focus. Don't think about the blood. We have to take out Aero first. Remember what he did to your brother? He's going to do that to the rest of us if you don't focus!"

Robyn tried speaking but her words were slurred and she shook her head after a moment. Hydro looked at the others desperately as Sonic shook his head. "She said something about the next step was that the rod had to be electrified..."

"I can do that," A voice spoke up and all looked over at Ria as she stumbled over, leaning heavily on Chase's shoulder. Her blue eyes clouded up as she reached out for the stick in Maria's hand as the hedgehog handed it to her.

Chaos walked up next, breathing heavily as Aero found himself being forced to the ground by Zap, Windy, Knuckles, and Shade with one of them holding onto one of his ligaments.

"What?! Let go of me!" Aero growled and struggled underneath his grip but stopped cold when Zap let lose a wave of electricity through his fingertips, zapping Aero for a moment. He glared at Aero as soon as the moment passed, dark blue eyes flashing.

"I'd stay still if I were you." Zap said to him seriously.

Ria touched the stick and closed a fist around it tightly. Blue lightning flickered from her fingertips and shot around the stick. She looked at the others wearily as they all stared at her silently. "Alright... even though the stick's an insulator I found a way to get passed that thanks to some things Zap showed me. It's still electrified though so, now what?"

Maria looked over at Chaos. "You think you could...?"

Shadow suddenly reached out for the stick. "Let me do it. I can do this."

Robyn took a shaky breath and stood up, green eyes flashing. She glanced at Hydro as he gave her a nervous look. "Let me do this. I can do it."

"R-Robyn...! Are you sure...?" Hydro asked while looking up at her.

Robyn nodded as she stuffed her injured hand into her pocket to hide the blood from herself. "Y-yes... I can do it. He's tortured me for all these years... it's only fair that I get back at him."

The others became quiet and nodded as Robyn took the stick sparking with blue lightning. It was like the lightning didn't even faze her as she turned towards the dark hedgehog as he snapped at the ones holding him down, struggling to get out of their grip as he acted more like a wild dog then a hedgehog.

Robyn stood over Aero and stared at him silently as he looked up at her, black eyes flashing angrily. "R-Robyn...! Get these fools off of me and I can promise you a world of happiness...!"

"You killed my brother in the future!" Robyn barked at him, her shoulders started shaking as she continued. "My little brother, who I cared about so much! How dare you! And not only that but because of you everyone's dead in thirteen years! How can you promise anything good for me?!"

Aero said nothing, probably surprised by her harsh words towards him as she lifted the stick high above her head, causing the shadow to fall on the dark hedgehog's body.

"Goodbye Aero, I hope the devil himself won't give you a place for your soul to live." Robyn hissed at him and flung the stick at Aero as Zap, Windy, Knuckles, and Shade rolled out of the way. Aero started to get up to avoid the attack but froze as the stick drove its way deep into his heart.

There was a moment of silence as Aero let out a chocking sound and Robyn stumbled when she saw the blood slowly slip out of the wound she created. Aero's black eyes seemed to slowly fade away, becoming less black as he looked up at Robyn. "W-why my sweet...? Why must you do this to me...?"

Robyn spat, feeling her fur rising off her body angrily as she glared at Aero while struggling to stay standing. "Because of you, my life will never be the same. You turned me into a monster, Aero. And you killed millions, no _billions_ of people too."

Aero sighed as his head flopped to one side, from the amount of blood he was losing he couldn't keep it up. "You are a naïve little rose... my naïve little rose, don't you see I've made your life better...?"

Robyn grumbled a few choice words at him as Aero let out a weak chuckle.

Jason then took a step forward and looked at Robyn as she nodded while falling to her knees, feeling her mind spinning from the smell of blood. It was taking all of her willpower not to lose it by now...  
Jason lifted a hand towards Aero and narrowed his eyes while everyone else stared silently at the hedgehog, not feeling an ounce of pity for the monster. Then, Aero was suddenly surrounded by fire and the hedgehog let out a screech of pain.

Xerius crossed his arms as the others stood around him. He took this moment to become silently grateful that none of the younger kids were near. Hydro stood silently next to him and when Xerius stole a moment to glance at him, Hydro nodded to him.

After a time, Jason stopped the fire and all that was left was a bunch of ashes. Windy took a step forward and waved a hand. With a gust of wind, the ashes separated and floated off into the distance to never be seen again.

There was a long moment of silence until Chaos took a shaky breath as he kept an arm protectively around a silent Maria. "D-did we win...?"

Katherine smiled as she rested an arm on Chaos' shoulder. "I think we did, little brother... I think we did."

Another moment of silence passed, like all couldn't believe this was happening until they heard a sudden screech behind them. All spun backwards to see the Ultimate Project swoop by, opening its large black wings before landing on a skyscraper not to far away, letting out another screech as it landed on top of it.

Everyone sighed in disbelief.

"And now to take out the Ultimate Project," Katherine said dryly.

Zap glanced down and suddenly froze when he saw Team Moon, Sierra, Kelly, Omega, Rouge, Sorro, Xsus, Cream and Chesse, the water element Chaos, Tikal, Team Chaotix, Tails, and Cosmo run by... along with a familiar figure in black.

"Father Darkness...!" Zap hissed as everyone glanced down. Father Darkness slid to a stop and looked up at Zap, black eyes flashing as Zap crossed his arms and glared down at him. The others on the team that went after the Ultimate Project stopped too to see how this is going to turn out.

Father Darkness looked up at the immortal. "Zap... how good it is to see you again."

Zap showed his teeth in the term of a snarl. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"Saving the future of course!"

"For what possible reason?! Darkness is evil! When does it ever help out with doing the right thing?"

FD laughed while waving a hand at the immortal. "Poor, poor, Zap. Don't you know? There's not much of a difference between light and darkness! Both do terrible things against the other, how can darkness be evil when light is as well?"

Zap glared at him, saying nothing for once.

Father Darkness smirked as he suddenly glowed with black energy and reappeared on a nearby rooftop. From there he was sitting, with his hands forming a triangle and a dark look in his eyes as he looked at the Mobians and Dimension Jumpers before him. "So... these are the people the Light Givers dimension jump to see... pathetic."

"Hey! You take that back!" Amy scowled while pointing a finger up at FD. "Who are you anyways?!"

"I am known as Father Darkness," FD said with a smirk as he waved a hand at the group. "The ruler of all Followers of Darkness."

Sonic blinked in surprise and pointed at the boy. "Wait, you're Father Darkness? _The_ Father Darkness?"

"Yes," FD turned his dark eyes onto the blue blur. "And you must be Sonic the hedgehog."

Sonic frowned as he took a surprised step back. "How?"

FD waved a hand as the entire group got back together again, "Not important."

"Robyn!" Tails called as he ran up to his sister and gave her a tight hug. Rouge gave Xerius a flying hug tackle while Sorro laughed and Sierra appeared next to Sonic with a scowl on her face as she looked up at Father Darkness.

"I take you all of you defeated Aero?" Strife asked as he hopped onto the building with the rest of his team. Everyone glanced back at Team Moon as the four of them looked at the others.

Sonic nodded as he turned to them. "Yeah, we got him... killed him by driving an electrified stick into his heart, then burning him, and spreading the ashes."

Zenox frowned. "That sounds almost... too easy..."

"He was hard to bring down," Windy said with a shrug. "We had to hold him down just to drive the stick through him."  
Flame scowled as she glanced over at Katherine. "I see you're still alive."

Katherine glared back at the cat. "Of course I am. That's what you get when you're the best."

Flame hissed while showing her a dark grin. "The best? Ha! Like that's true."

Katherine's glare became colder as she stared at Flame. "I killed you once. I can kill you again."

"Over my dead body," Strife growled as he took a step forward and lifted a hand out protectively in front of Flame.

A long moment of silence passed until the group heard clapping. All glanced up at Father Darkness as he clapped his hands slowly, looking mildly amused. "Oh my, looks like you two have major differences with each other."

Katherine and Flame alike glared at Father Darkness. Katherine lifted a fist at FD and spoke. "One day there'll be no more darkness and you'll be the only thing that's left of it. Then when we destroy you, darkness will be erased permanently and we can all finally see some peace!"

FD smirked as he looked away. "If you want to destroy the dark, first destroy the light so you can remove the long shadows of darkness the light casts behind."

There was another moment of silence as FD waved a hand at the group once more then looked back at the Ultimate Project. "Well, since we have only one annoying pest to get rid of now, shouldn't we be focusing our energy on getting rid of _it_ before we destroy each other?"

Shadow turned towards the Ultimate Project as it jumped off the rooftops and started flying towards them. "I agree. If we stand here and bicker among ourselves then we won't get anywhere in this fight. Light and darkness have to work together in order to win this fight. It's time we put our differences behind us and moved forward."

The others became quiet and nodded as all turned towards the Ultimate Project as it landed on the building behind Father Darkness. The Lord of Darkness on the other hand just closed his eyes, not saying anything but had an annoyed look on his face, like he couldn't believe he was doing this. Like he was going against everything he stood for by helping them out.

The Ultimate Project then let out a screech and FD suddenly went rigid. He jumped to his feet and spun around, flicking his wrist and revealing his axe once more. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the project and everyone below him watched in surprise, none of them understanding Father Darkness' behavior.

"You...!" Father Darkness spat at the Ultimate Project.

The project stared at Father Darkness with red eyes then looked at the group before it before looking at FD again. Then suddenly, it let out a laugh and spoke in a telepathic voice. _"My, my! How good it is to finally meet the Lord of Darkness! I think we will both be fighting for the crown of evil today!"_

Father Darkness bared his teeth angrily, black eyes seeming to glow as the others behind him let out gasps of horror while some stood there with stunned looks on their faces.

The reason why... was because all recognized that voice.

The voice belonged to Aero.

**Take that Chaos! *grins and laughs* Anyways, see you when the next chapter comes around and please do leave a review! **

**Oh and before I go, a note for my family: Chaos wants to put up a story with us in the Ohana going to Sonic's world (we're going to blow it up... I just know it... *face desks then laughs*) so put up your thoughts and ideas about it in your review to let Chaos know! Oh, and Chaos? I'm in. You can put me in the story.**


	23. Chapter 23

***from under a blanket* "Windy! Can you upload the next story for me...?"**

**Windy *looks back at me* "Why are you under a blanket...?"**

**You know why! Because I look like a flipping chipmunk. You get your Wisdom Teeth pulled out and then we can argue about this again.**

**Xsus *claps his hands together happily* "But you look like a cute chipmunk!"**

***sighs from underneath the blanket but says nothing***

**Windy "Alright... I can do that..." *turns to computer screen* "Well, hello readers! Welcome to the next chapter of the story! Sorry the chapter's a little short today but... eh. The next one's longer. Thanks goes to the Ohana for reviewing!"**

**Chaos= Yep...! And don't worry about being confused. Aero explains himself in this chapter...  
FD "And you'd do well to remember yours, hedgehog."  
*laughs* I suppose we are! And I think everyone's in with the story idea... I'm not too sure about Retto though... you might want to ask him to be sure about that one.**

**Storm= *laughs* That was defiantly a "holy snapcakes" moment! And don't worry... you already what kinda happens... but glad to see you liked that chapter! I was worried I made it too easy for Aero to be defeated, he wasn't really taken down (he was held down- literally).**

**Rya= *thoughtful look* You have a point there... it'd be a pain in my neck to sit still for that long too... ha oh well.  
FD *looks unimpressed* "Your least favorite pancake? The question is: can you even get me first?" *watches you walk off and smirks* "I suppose I won that argument."  
Yeah bulldog!  
And yes! Now to stop Aero...! *lifts sword and marches off proudly*  
After CPR... probably a good idea *nods***

**Raeweis= *laughs* I think I need to watch more youtube...  
And yeah for blowing your mind! I love doing that to people... and how Aero did it... it'll be explained, don't you worry! So in a way, yes. He did process the UP.**

**Amicus= Haha! Yes, we can fly apparently :P  
*thinks about the kite being a dangerous weapon before grinning and nodding* you're right! Haha! But yeah, very, very unexpected ending there. Hope you like this chapter too...!  
**

**Strife= Well... looks like I blew your mind. *laughs* And I always liked that quote... it explained almost everything about Light and Darkness.**

**Retto= *nods* Yeah this is basically the final boss so you can start playing your music... but the fight doesn't officially start 'till the next chapter...  
FD "Like I want to ask a fool with that kind of name for advice."  
Zap *looks at FD* "Like you want to ask ANYONE for advice."  
FD "Your point has been proven." *looks at you and waves a hand at Zap* "Besides, why would I **_**want**_** to work with a fool like this one?"  
Zap *throws his hands into the air in disbelief*  
Xsus *lifts a hand and the water whip falls into a puddle on the ground. Look on his face is still deathly serious as he flicks a hand and freezes the water on the ground* "Your turn."**

**UFO= Hmmm... *sighs then laughs* I cannot feel my face at the moment...**

**DISCLAIMER= Umm... Rya... next chapter, okay?  
Retto "So, why can't you two put aside your differences and just work together?"  
Zap *points at FD* "How did you get me in the same room with him?"  
FD *glares at Zap* "We were stuffed into bowling ball bags by Rya and dragged in here. What else can you expect?"  
Rya *laughs while wiping invisible dust off of herself* "It was easy too!"  
Storm *laughing* "You should've seen the looks on your faces when you were dragged in here too...!"  
Strife "Come on, let's be serious guys. Why can't you two just get along?"  
FD "Working with such a lowlife such as the boy sitting in the bowling ball bag to my life would be against everything I stand for today."  
Zap "I'm almost as old as you are."  
FD "Is that so?"  
Zap "Of course it's so! I watched you go against the first of the Light Givers...!"  
Raeweis "Um... I don't think they'll ever get along..."  
FD "Only because that poor fool of a hedgehog didn't...!"  
Chaos "Do any of you guys get what they're talking about?"  
Blackie *sighs* "Sadly... yes. They're arguing about the first of the Followers of Darkness- FD over there and the first of the Light Giver- who was a hedgehog. This is going to take awhile..."  
Amicus *grabs a piece of paper and grins when she sees its a disclaimer* "Yes! Finally! 'Sonic and company belong to SEGA, Strife owns Strife, Fengari, Zenox, and shares the character Alena with Blackie. Blackie owns the Dimension Jumpers, Chaos owns Chaos, and Storm owns Aero, Robyn, and Kelly'!" *looks down and sighs when she's on the ground* "Awww..."  
Raeweis *grins at Amicus* "Think happy thoughts!"**

Chapter Twenty-Three=

Robyn felt her heart stop as she stared at the Ultimate Project. The others were close all around her, but she felt like she was standing in the middle of an empty room with Aero on one side and herself on the other. She felt horror travel through her as the Ultimate Project... or _Aero's_ red eyes slowly turned onto her. The project showed its razor teeth and pulled back the sides of its face to show a deranged smile.

_"Hello Robyn... did you miss me?"_

"H-how are you still alive?!" Robyn cried, feeling the horror travel through here as she stared at Aero in his new form.

_"It's quite simple actually... this project is brainless... as Father Darkness has told most of you." _Aero said as his red eyes flickered over to FD before looking back at Robyn. _"So... when you, my dear, tried to kill me, I had already suspected you would try to destroy me by using the lightning stake... so on the ARK, my fellow minions and I found a way to find a way for me to transport my consciousness into small partials and take control of something with a small amount of willpower, so that I couldn't die easily. That is the main reason why the Ultimate Project was released and why I didn't kill it when absorbing the energy of my other siblings. Therefore, when you killed me, my consciousness went into the being with the smallest willpower in this area: the Ultimate Project. From there, I took control of it and here I am now. I am now the project and alive once more! I will win this fight and you, Robyn, will become mine."_

There was a stunned moment of silence as the news slowly sank in to all of them. All that Robyn could currently feel was horror coursing through her as Zap took a step forward and raised a fist. "You're lucky someone like me is in this fight. Because, you cannot use that move twice, can you? If we kill you again, you're dead and you stay dead. It took a large amount of energy for you to do this once... so this is a one time deal."

Aero's red eyes turned to Zap. _"Do you want to test that theory?"_

Zap smirked, "Gladly." He flicked his hand and a sword that flashed with white lightning appeared in his hands. Aero on the other hand opened his black wings and took to the sky, out of range for Zap's sword. Zap instead lifted a hand and lightning flashed from the sky and almost hit Aero but the project quickly swerved to the left and ducked out of the way.

Zap glanced back to the others as they all looked at each other nervously. "What's the plan?"

Tails shook his head. "Now that Aero has control of the Ultimate Project... it could be almost impossible to catch up to him. Even with fliers like Team Staryia and the X-Tornado."

"Team Staryia?" Kelly asked with a frown.

"That's us!" Xsus waved a hand while Jason, Ria, Xerius, and Chase raised their hands too. Even Hydro raised his hand for a moment before glancing at the others and putting it back down again with a sigh.

Fengari growled quietly to himself. "Then how can we take him out when he's up in the sky like that _and_ can fly faster then any of us?!"

Zap glanced over at Father Darkness after a moment of dead silence. "Well, this is _your_ creation. You have any ideas?"

Father Darkness shrugged, saying nothing.

Shadow scowled as he looked up at the sky. "Maybe we can use some of our abilities to knock him out of the sky."

"NEGATIVE." Omega suddenly stated and all looked back at the robot as he spoke. "THE ULTIMATE PROJECT HAS A HIGH SPEED ADVANTAGE IN THE SKY. IT CAN EASILY AVOID THE MOVES WE USE AGAINST IT."

"Then what do we do?!" Hydro yelled, his patience obviously growing thin as everyone looked at him. Hydro clenched his fists and shook his head, looking desperate. "We came so far! We cannot lose now!"

FD smirked and suddenly spoke up, causing all to look at him as Aero flew in circles high in the air above them. "Well... I do have a plan..."

"What is it?" Sonic asked as he turned to him.

Father Darkness said nothing has he dropped down on the ground gently. After a quick look at the group, he became surrounded by a black cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, everyone took a startled step back to see that Father Darkness wasn't standing there anymore, only another copy of the Ultimate Project. The project, or Father Darkness, spread his wings out and let out a ear splitting screech that caused everyone to clamp their hands over their ears.

Zap scowled as soon as the moment passed and glared at FD. "How the heck did you do that?! And was that even necessary?!"

FD chuckled, causing his red eyes to glow. _"Pitiful, Zap. I thought you'd figure this out by now. The Ultimate Project, or better called a Creature of Darkness, is _my_ creation. It is made out of darkness, and since I am darkness I can turn myself into this form easily. Now we can fight fire with fire."_

Sierra frowned. "But...! How on Earth are you going to be able to fight Aero when he's trying to fly out of your range?"

FD's red eyes glanced over to the black cat. _"Simple again. I'm taking you with me."_

Sierra blinked slowly, her ice blue eyes glowing wide with shock. "W-why me?!"

FD flicked his black tail and bent down as the black cat stared then gave Flame a confused look, who shrugged, looking just as mystified. _"The only reason you'll understand is that I cannot attack him while flying at full speed. That's where you come in. Attack him and get him on the ground for me."_

Sierra frowned then nodded as she ran forward and hopped onto FD's back quietly. After a moment, she looked at Sonic as he stared at her. She held out a hand and the blue blur ran forward and hopped onto FD's back right behind Sierra as the immortal of darkness let out an annoyed sigh.

"Be careful Sierra! I don't want to risk my neck to save you again!" Flame suddenly called while smirking and the black cat rolled her blue eyes in disbelief.

"I'll be fine!" Sierra said to her.

FD let out a strange sound in the back of his throat and launched himself high into the sky before shooting off after Aero as the once hedgehog turned and shot away from them.

As they shot up into the night sky, Amy frowned while putting a hand on her hip. "Now what? What should the rest of us do?"

Zenox looked up at the sky. "Maybe... we should sit back and wait..."

"Or..." Flame smirked at Zenox and lifted her hand, with a flash of darkness, a bow appeared and glowed in her hand. "...we could try shooting at him, even if it's supposed to not work. Come on, Zenox!" With that, Flame charged forward and pulled out an arrow out of thin air while running on the rooftops towards Aero.

The others looked at each other and Strife laughed. "She has the right idea, we might as well try to help rather than sit around here an d wait for something to happen."

"Then let's knock Aero out of the sky!" Katherine called and almost everyone cheered in response.

**I know, I know, it was a short chapter. I'd update tomorrow... but I'm busy tomorrow because it's an important date.**

**Zap *walks in* "Hap..."**

**NO! *laughs* I don't want the entire universe to know!**

**Windy *sighs* "If you got out from under that blanket he might listen to you."**

**Might... that's a reassuring word.  
**

**Notes= Sooo... *looks at the list* Here's who updated recently so you should go read their stories after leaving a review on this one:  
Raeweis- "Random Shorts"  
Cor Amicus- "Time Lock: It's Complicated"  
Chaos- (he finished Space Colony Ark and put up this new story:) "Chaos in the Light Dimension"  
Maraya Prower- "Rouge"**

**Well that's it from us! Hope to see you around soon and do leave a review! *waves and disappears***


	24. Chapter 24

**Hello readers! Welcome to the next chapter today's chapter was brought to you because... well... uh... you don't need to know. Anyways, thanks to the Ohana for reviewing!**

**Storm= Yeah, Aero being the creeper to Robyn that he always is.  
Katherine *nods* "And then I get to cut him after Robyn! SHOOT HIM!"  
Ha, you can consider this a late half-birthday present! XD  
**

**Chaos= Yeah... it hurt... my face finally stopped swelling. But anyways, ha! Yeah, you put it up in your chapter and that made me laugh...  
**

**Raeweis= *grabs FD's arm and lowers it. Watches at least fifty aces fall to the floor before scowling at him*  
FD "I am the master of hidden trickery."  
*face palms* Anyways, glad you liked the SonicxSierra moments, they're quite cute when you really think about it... haha.**

**Rya= *laughing thanks for wishing me a happy birthday, Rya!  
That is so true and my abilities for being patient have been... failing epically.  
FD "When he's dead I call for that title of honor."  
Me "You call being the superduperevil-villain on Mobius a title?"  
FD "Of course!" *suddenly sighs in disbelief as you hug him* "Let go of me. I still am evil to the core. I'm doing this for my own gain."  
Huh, you're right! They haven't disappeared yet so... *stops when noticing Zap glaring at me and sighs in disbelief before doing a face desk* Aw Zaaaaap!  
Exactly!  
Zap *points to FD* "Have you _seen_ him insulting me? How in the name of the Light Givers can I work with... that!"  
FD "That was quite rude."  
Zap "Of course it was!" *scowls*  
FD *looks at you seriously* "If I didn't spend my time insulting this boy, then I would never be the bigger person in this room. Besides, what if I had _let_ you catch me?" *smirks*  
**

**Retto= The song worked for the chapter, didn't it?  
Xsus *suddenly looks liquid and seems to fall in and dissolve into the water*  
**

**Strife= *looks at Strife then at the nearby buildings* That sounds like a good idea.  
Glad you liked the chapter though! I was worried I blew everyone's mind too far on that chapter but guess not!  
**

**UFO= UNKNOWNFOLLOWER! *gives you a hug while laughing* Yessss! You're back! You're back! *gives you a whole bag of gummy bears while grinning like an idiot* Glad to see everything's back to normal! Oh, and I told Chaos about what you said, so go review on his stories too haha. I'm sure he'd be glad to see you around over there. And thanks! It was an awesome birthday too! Hope you're still enjoying the story!  
Oh... remove the spaces... I'm not sure if they let guest reviewers answer to forums but still... try it anyways, remove the spaces and if you can come over that'd be more amazing for words: www. fanfiction forum /Zaps-Fanclub /119381/  
But... welcome back!  
**

**Amicus= *looks at you still on the ground* Um... nope. Think happier thoughts then! Like cupcakes! :D  
I know Amare *pats her head gently* And it gets worse...  
And yes, quite smart.  
**

**Disclaimer= Hey Rya... maybe I should do the one you offered in the last chapter of the story... or maybe the second to last... or third to last... hmm... well it'll turn up eventually.  
Chaos "So then, we gave UFO some fireworks and then watched the place blow skyhigh."  
Espio *cleaning a bar cup while looking at the nine authors on the table before him* "Hmmm... sounds like an interesting case."  
Strife *Nods* "So, you think you can lend us the car _now_?"  
Espio "Who will be driving it?"  
Rya "I'll drive!"  
Storm *tear drops* "That might be a dangerous thing...!"  
Blackie *grins* "I'll be in the trunk then!"  
Espio *sighs* "Let me talk to Vector about it." *walks out of the room after putting the cup down*  
Amicus *picks up the cup and squints* "Hey... there's something written on this cup..."  
Raeweis "Here, let me see." *takes the cup and squints* "Wow, looks like a bunch of gibberish in a sentence."  
UFO "Here, let me try to read it. Um weird... 'Cinos dna ynapmoc gnoleb ot AGES, Efirts snwo Efirts, Iragnef, Xonez, dna serahs eht retcarahc Anela htiw Eikcalb. Eikcalb snwo eht Noisnemid Srepmuj, Soahc snwo Soahc, dna Mrots snwo Orea, Nybor, dna Yllek. Dna I osla od ton nwo eht etisbew erehw yeht deppilf eht sdrow dnuora.'. What the heck...?"  
Retto "I think it's the disclaimer written backwards..." *looks around* "...where do you think a pen is so we can figure this out?"  
**

Chapter Twenty-Four=

The wind blew through Sierra's fur as she took the moment to close her eyes and take a deep breath, enjoying the fresh cool air that hit her in the face. She took the moment to wonder what would happen if she had never dimension jumped in the first place... most of this is entirely her fault.

Suddenly, she felt gravity take into control and gripped tighter onto FD's fur... or skin... or feathers... whatever the Creature of Darkness or the Ultimate Project was made out of as he suddenly dropped. They sped up and shot closer to Aero as he let out a screech and sped forward, moving even faster.

_"Keep your guard up," _FD's voice suddenly rang through her mind. _"Who knows what kind of tricks Aero is capable of doing in this form."_

Sierra nodded while Sonic glanced at the ground far below them behind her. "Hey, Sierra, what's the plan? How exactly are we going to take Aero down while we're flying at this speed? We're almost moving fast enough to break the sound barrier!"

Sierra bit her lip as FD suddenly swerved to the right when Aero lunged at them. The two creatures growled at each other angrily, showing the other their deranged looking teeth, except Aero's looked more straight and had noticeably four sharper teeth than normal.

With a whack of his flat tail, Aero sliced at them and FD dropped twenty feet to avoid the blow, emitting a small scream from Sierra. She still hated falling, she hated it ever since that blasted day long ago...

_"Catch me if you can...!" _Aero hissed in their minds telepathically before shooting off, taking a large turn and heading back towards the others.

"He's heading back towards the others...!" Sonic called as if the other two didn't know it yet.

"What the heck does he want with the others?" Sierra yelled over the roar of the wind as FD shot after him once more. "It's not like anyone's over there wanting to fight..." Sierra froze and Sonic did too when they both realized what Aero's objective probably was.

"Robyn!" They yelled in sync while FD sighed.

_"Now I can see why everyone thinks of you two as a cute couple." _He muttered quietly_. _

Sierra's face turned red from embarrassment and Sonic wasn't any better at the moment as FD quickly caught back up to Aero. As they got closer, the once hedgehog looked back and hissed at them.

_"Sierra, your sword. Try throwing your sword at it." _FD suddenly said calmly, like this was a happy stroll in the park on a Saturday afternoon.

Sierra nodded and managed to stop her hands from shaking long enough to let go of FD's... fur... whatever, to grab the hilt of her sword and pull it out. She glanced at Aero as the monster started flying faster towards the others and suddenly FD shot out of the way as a combined blast of purple and blue fire shot up into the air, missing the crew by inches.

Sonic glanced down and grinned when he saw the others on the ground lining up. Below, Robyn and Kelly's hands alike were both smoking since they combined forces and used Starfire and Arctic Fire to shoot up at Aero, but both missed had their target.

"Nice shot you guys!" Sonic called down as FD swooped behind Aero again as the monster dropped down.

Aero opened his clawed feet as it dropped lower to the ground and Robyn found herself and Kelly shoved out of the way as Flame pushed them aside. As soon as they were out of the way, she lifted her bow and aimed it at Aero. Flame's hazel eyes narrowed as she released an arrow and it exploded when it hit Aero in the face.

Aero fell to the ground and rolled a few hundred times before coming to a rest in front of Flame as she smirked. "Got him."

There was a moment of silence as FD landed on top of a nearby building with Sierra and Sonic looking down and watching wearily to see if Aero really did go down. The others on the other hand gave the project a suspicious look, half expecting it to jump to its feet again.

Strife suddenly appeared next to Flame and yanked her out of the way as Aero lashed out with one of his sharp claws in her direction. Both vanished into the darkness as Aero's claws missed their mark by inches and Flame and Strife reappeared on a nearby rooftop.

"That was close," Flame muttered, more to herself then to the hedgehog.

"Be careful!" Strife scolded her. "What would've happened if you gotten hurt?"

"Then you would've gone into a rage mode against Aero then!" Flame said with a grin and vanished to join the fight again as the others started blasting Aero with everything they had.

After a moment of suffering a million attacks, Aero got to his feet and launched himself back into the air, out of range from the others once more.

Zap growled angrily to himself and glanced at the others as FD launched himself after Aero once more. "Well, this isn't working. Has anyone thought of a _better_ plan than this?"

Xsus raised a hand in the air. "Oo! Oo! I got one! I got one!"

Zap sighed in disbelief. "Yes, Xsus?"

"Maybe, maybe we could get some fireworks and then throw them at Aero so that when they hit him, they explode in his face! And then, then, when they explode, Aero will go out with a bang, literally!"

Zap hung his head and said nothing for a moment. "Any other ideas?"

Robyn suddenly gasped quietly to herself and held the side of her head while Kelly looked at her. "Robyn...? Are you okay?"

"F-fine..." Robyn muttered quietly to herself but she still had a hand on her head.

Hydro glanced at her as she suddenly fell to the ground and his eyes widened in shock. He glanced over at Kelly who looked just as terrified before looking at Sorro who ducked behind Xerius and Rouge fearfully.

"Oh no..." Future Xsus breathed as Robyn's dark grey fur slowly turned into red with black stripes in her bangs and on her arms and legs. When she opened her eyes, everyone who was watching what was going on, took a surprised step back to see they were no longer green, just white with a tinge of red in it.

Robyn struggled back to her feet and showed the others her sharp fangs. "Hello friends..." She hissed. Her voice sounded nothing like the grey fox, it sounded darker and much harsher.

"Emily...!" Kelly gasped as she took another startled step back.

"Who...?" Katherine asked with a frown. By this time, everyone on the ground had seen the evil red fox and all had their weapons or fists raised defensively.

"It's Robyn's vampire side..." Hydro said as the red fox, or Emily, turned towards them, licking her lips greedily. "Aero was the one that almost turned her into this long ago, but Kelly stopped him before it was too late. However, sometimes her vampire side can break free and that's when things get interesting. She'll do anything it takes to kill us."

Emily smirked. "Aren't you a smart boy? How about I make you the first of my victims?"

Hydro growled angrily, lifting his fist as he did so. "Bring it on!"

Tails' eyes grew wide with fear as he stared at the vampire. "Big sis...?"

"Wait," Zap lifted a hand out and all glanced over at him as he shook his head. "Let me handle this one. The rest of you, keep an eye on Aero, FD, Sonic, and Sierra. Keep thinking of a better plan for us to use against Aero instead of sitting around shooting at him."

"Are you sure...?" Windy asked worriedly as she looked at Zap.

"Nope, you wouldn't mind if you sticked around too, would you Wind?"

Windy scowled. "If that's the case then of course I'm staying!" She glanced back at the others and waved a hand. "Get out of here, all of you!"

"But...!" Hydro started to argue.

"Now!" Windy turned towards him, green eyes blazing and all decided now wasn't the time to argue with the Light Giver.

Tails' eyes widened as he stared at the red fox while the others left to head after Aero and the three fighting him. After a moment, he felt Cosmo gently take his hand into hers before pulling her away from the vampiress.

_"Come on, Hydro." _Xerius said as he grabbed Sorro's arm and pulled him along and then ran as Aero and FD shot up into the sky not too far away. Hydro sighed in defeat and then ran after Xerius after a moment of looking at Emily to Zap and finally to Windy.

As soon as they were all gone, Zap glanced over at Windy. "You ready?" He asked her quietly.

Windy shrugged. "Nope. We could die today. It's been nice knowing you, Zap."

"Goes both ways, Windy."

Emily smirked as she suddenly lunged at both of them as Zap and Windy alike both pulled out their swords and jumped out of the way as she slid to a stop. She looked from Zap to Windy then faked a lunge at Windy but tackled Zap instead.

Zap growled as Robyn tackled him to the ground while Windy's eyes widened in shock. "Get off me!" Zap barked at her.

Emily smirked as Zap's fingers sparked with electricity that shot up her arm and Emily bit her lip to avoid crying out. However, she kept her grip firmly on Zap as she managed to slam his arms onto the ground and keep them down. She showed him her fangs as Zap's eyes narrowed, he mentally wondered what would happen if he didn't make it out of this. What would happen to Windy...?

"Prepare to become mine!" Emily said eagerly and lunged forward.

"ZAP!" Windy cried.

-XXXXXXXX-

Aero and FD spiraled around each other as they shot high into the air. Sierra leaned forward desperately along with Sonic to avoid flying off of FD's back as they flew high into the air, high enough that the temperature began to drop and water started freezing on their fur.

_"Ready to give up...? _Aero asked with a chuckle hidden in his voice. _"I have someone I need to pick up that needs me..."_

FD let out a dark laugh as both stopped flying at the same time to stare each other down. _"Oh really? I think she despises you."_

_ "She does not..." _Aero said, his voice sounding wistful for a moment. _"She is mine and mine for the taking."_

Sierra sighed angrily. "Can we just knock him out now, my lord?!"

FD glanced back at Sierra with a glowing red eye, _"Yes. Take this." _Suddenly, appearing in Sierra's hand, a card appeared. Sierra lifted the card up with a frown, seeing one half of it had a black creature with glowing red eyes... and realized that the creature looked just like the Ultimate Project. On the other side it was golden with a white wolf on the other side. _"If you stab this into Aero then we can end this fight."_

Sierra looked at the card, surprised how it weighed lighter than a card should. How could this possibly be stabbed into Aero? And heck, could it even work? "A-Are you sure?"

FD growled and that was the only answer Sierra got.

Sonic glanced over Sierra's shoulder at Aero before taking the card from Sierra. "Here, let me do it. I bet I could land on him easily. So, I just stab the card into his back or something? What good can a card do?"

FD sighed. _"Do not question my intelligence. Just do it and see what happens."_

Then, Aero suddenly lunged forward, surprising the three of them alike as the card suddenly vanished in Sonic's hands. _"To slow, you fools!"_ He screeched and started laughing hysterically as he suddenly smashed into FD and wrapped his claws around him.

Sierra let out another scream as she lost her grip and fell off of FD's back with Sonic. Both of them spiraled towards the ground, flipping head over heels until Sonic reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her from flipping.

"I never liked falling!" She yelled to Sonic as he pulled her close over the roar of the wind.

"It's okay! I got you!" Sonic yelled and for once Sierra didn't say anything.

Meanwhile, Aero chuckled as he kept his grip on FD. _"You think your strong enough to defeat me?"_

_ "It's not a question of who's stronger. It's the question of who has the most tricks up their sleeves." _FD growled in response.

_"Well then, prepare for this trick!" _Aero suddenly lunged forward and clamped his jaws around FD's neck and FD went rigid, feeling nothing but surprise float through him as his eyes widened. He felt his body slowly growing smaller and Aero's slowly did too.

After a moment, Father Darkness found himself back in his human form and Aero in his hedgehog form once more with both floating in midair. FD could feel his energy was slowly getting sucked out of him as Aero kept his jaws tight on FD's neck.

Another long moment passed and Aero let go, picking up FD as FD's head flopped forward while he gasped for breath. FD felt like all his energy had dissolved into nothingness as he looked at Aero's pitch black eyes. "How are you feeling, Father Darkness?" Aero hissed at him while smirking and wiping black liquid from his lips. "We now know, who the ultimate nightmare is now... don't we?" With that, he lifted FD high into the air and flung him towards the ground as he let out another wild laugh after Sonic and Sierra.

As he fell, Sonic mentally wondered if this was how he was going to die. He always expected to eventually drown in water or even be killed in battle like he was when Mephiles was around. The wind rushed through his quills as he kept a hand around Sierra and he could see some of the others gathering underneath him, all probably wondering what to do now that their friends or current allies were falling to their deaths.

Suddenly, he felt a blast of energy explode behind him, up over where FD and Aero should've been. Sonic suddenly felt black energy around him and after a moment, found himself on the ground next to Sierra, perfectly fine.

When Sonic looked up and around in confusion, he stopped short when a new figure suddenly dropped down in front of him and Sierra, who sat still next to him.

Before them, a black cat slowly looked at the sky, a smirk clear on its face as its catlike eyes glowed an unhealthy yellow color. Its long cat ears curved like devils' horns and its long black tail flicked on the ground while it showed his teeth, revealing all of them to be unnaturally sharp. The clothes it wore looked similar to the ones Sierra wore, a black shirt, pants, boots, but he had a black cloak instead of a cape.

With a flick of his hand, Father Darkness' axe appeared in its hands. Aero on the other hand dropped down from the sky and landed gently on a rooftop not to far away while looking at his hands with new interest. "I knew your Dark Chaos Energy would become useful, Father Darkness." He called out as the new cat lifted his yellow eyes up to Aero.

"Well then," The cat spoke and everyone got chills down their spines when they recognized the voice. The black cat lifted a gloveless hand into the sky for Aero to see. "Now that you have released me into my true form... I can give you a real beating." The cat's yellow eyes glowed as he looked at Aero. "Prepare to meet the ultimate nightmare, Aero the hedgehog, for I am Father Darkness!"

**And... scene. If your confused on how that happened... it'll be explained in the next chapter. Okay, what's next on the agenda?**

**Sierra "World domination?"**

***sighs* No Sierra. We're not going to rule the Earth. Besides, once we ruled it, what would we do next?"**

**Sierra "..."**

**Thought so. Anyways, leave a review and I'll see you guys in the next chapter! Later! *waves***

**NOTES FOR GOOD STORIES TO READ AFTER YOU READ & REVIEW THIS ONE=  
**"**A Difficult Reunion" -BlackStormNomad (she updated on hers!)  
**"**Time Lock: It's Complicated" -Cor Amicus (updated as well...!)  
**"**Rouge" -Maraya Prower (I still need to review the next update... I'll get there soon Rya, don't worry!)  
**"**Chaos in the Light Dimension" -Chaotic Hedgehog**

**Alright that's it from me! Please do leave a review! ...or else you'll make Xsus cry.**


	25. Chapter 25

***looks at Sierra and busts up laughing***

**Sierra *scowls* "Shut up. You are so immature for laughing whenever you see the name 'Sierra' and people mean the mountains, not the name."**

***laughs harder***

**Sierra *scowl turns into a dark glare* "Humph... anyways, hello reader. Welcome to the next chapter and thanks goes to the Ohana for reviewing. Thanks ALSO goes to some people that decided to follow the story."**

***manages to regain composure* "Ahem, right, and those people would be: (besides the Ohana) Phoenix Nighstar and keyking24! Thanks goes to those people!" *looks at Sierra and starts laughing again***

**Storm= Yeah... pretty foolish...  
Katherine *laughs and pulls out her sword* "Now to finish him off...!" *jumps into the air and slices at Aero's head*  
Haha, seems to me you liked the chapter, but it's only obvious that Aero would go after Robyn... being the sad creeper he is. And yeah... FD's a cat now... what will happen next...? XD**

**Retto= *applauds* I knew you were going to try to see if it was backwards haha. Good job!  
Final boss...? Not yet... soon though... soon...  
Xsus *reappears and is stubbornly wiping a tear away before lifting his fists again*  
Xsus...? You want to stop the fight?  
Xsus "No!"  
**…**.okay then...**

**Rya= Xsus *squeals in excitement, takes the bowl of ice cream and runs*  
Oh yes, it never seems to end...! :P  
OH...MY...GOSH...! You're prediction... is... rfjuhdjskl... *scowls at the words of gibberish and glares at Zap before doing a face desk* I hate you, Zap.  
Zap "It's for your own good. For **_**both **_**of you.****" *looks at you then at me*  
FD "SOMEONE get this woman off of me! I am evil, Rya, pure evil!" *struggles to get out of your hugging grip*  
Windy "Because it's ruining your 'I'm an evil bad guy' look?"  
FD *glares daggers at Windy*  
Flame *grins* "Heh, thanks. I try, and obviously succeed." :P  
Zap "I'll be fine...!"  
Windy *looks away after you say that she cares and avoids eye contact with you and Zap*  
Zap *frowns at Windy then looks at you in confusion* "What did you say?"**

**Chaos= *laughs* Ohhh yeah... my internet *looks at Zap*  
Zap *pales*  
So... *smirks at Zap before looking at you again* anyways, yeah that's what Rya's looking for. *nods*  
Espio *hands you a water with a sigh*  
There, there, Chaos I care *pats Chaos' head with a grin* Haha yeah! Stinking of evil! XD**

**Strife= Haha, yeah... this will be epic.  
Flame *sticks her tongue out at you* "Of course I am!"**

**Amicus= YEAH! If we break two hundred reviews that'll be awesome! And I shall be one happy soul. *shakes head as you're still on the ground* Uhhh... nope *takes a surprised step back as you sky rocket into the air. Calls after you:* "Never mind!"  
*looks at the sharpie and laughs* That brings back some interesting memories...  
Fuzzy rubber for the Creature of Darkness' fur... that'd be interesting... *thoughtful look and then laughs as you flip out at the end of the chapter* Sounds like you really liked this one, Amicus haha! Hope you like this one too!**

**UFO= *sighs* Well hope to see you soon again, UFO!  
**

**Disclaimer= Rya "I can't believe Vector let us take the car!"  
Raeweis "I can't believe they let you drive!"  
Retto "I can't believe I'm not driving. I am the oldest here."  
Strife *glances out a window then at the others* "Who wants to play blackjack?"  
Chaos "Maybe later..."  
Blackie *closes eyes and tries to sleep but gives up when Storm pokes her. Blackie gives her a look*  
Storm *laughs* "You awake?"  
Blackie "Am now!" *laughs too*  
Amicus "Hey! Turn up the radio! I think they're playing something good!"  
Rya *turns up the radio and all go quiet*  
Announcer _"Hello folks, and do not forget: Sonic and company belong to SEGA, Blackie owns the Dimension Jumpers and shares the character Alena with Strife as well as Strife owning some of the story ideas. Strife owns Fengari, Zenox, and Strife. Storm owns Aero, Robyn, and Kelly and Chaos owns Chaos! That's all folks! Hope to talk to you again next week!"_  
*moment of silence*  
Chaos "Wow... we just got on the radio. How the heck did that happen?!"  
**

Chapter Twenty-Five=

Aero smirked while FD showed a confident grin as the two immortals stared each other down. As this happened, the others stared at them in shock.

"How the heck did this happen...?" Katherine muttered to the other quietly as they all stared. Tikal suddenly stepped forward and all looked at her as she spoke up.

"Dark Chaos Energy and Light Chaos Energy has been released." She said quietly while clasping her hands together. "It would seem that the Dark Chaos Energy is what kept Father Darkness in his human form and when Aero bit Father Darkness, he only took the Dark Chaos Energy in Father Darkness' system instead of blood, which turned him back into a hedgehog."

"How do you know that?" Chase asked.

Tikal laughed weakly as she looked at him. "When you have been guarding the Master Emerald for millions of years you can learn some interesting things. However, there is a small problem. Every time when Dark Chaos Energy or Light Chaos Energy is released, the other has to be released as well. In this situation, Dark Chaos Energy has been released... so Light Chaos Energy also has to have been released... the question is... where?"

"We can't worry about that right now," Strife said as he took a step forward and raised his fists angrily, causing everyone to look at him in surprise. "Aero's back on his feet. We need to focus on taking him out first."

Flame glanced over at Strife with a frown on her face. "You got a plan then?"

Strife smirked. "Of course I have a plan. When do I not?"

"Touché..."

"Point for me."

"What?!"

Fengari smirked and lifted his hands to shape the number one on one hand and a zero on the other. "Point for Strife, nothing for Flame."

"Aw! What?! No fair!" Flame grumbled and she pouted while crossing her arms.

Zenox sighed in disbelief and glanced over at Strife. "Anyways, what's the plan?"

Strife glanced at her then waved a hand at Aero while he continued his stare down with FD. "Since he's back in his vampire form, why don't we try taking him out again? But this time we're going to have to use more force since he has Dark Chaos Energy within him. I propose we bring forth the Chaos Emeralds."

"The Chaos Emeralds?" Sonic echoed as he walked forward with Sierra standing close to him. "If we use those against Aero..."

"Then we can blast him into the next dimension!" Katherine said with a grin.

Shadow nodded while glancing over to his sister. "If we do that then myself, Sonic, and Chaos can go super along with you..."

Katherine scoffed suddenly, crossing her arms angrily as she glanced over at Shadow angrily. "Dream on, little brother, I am not going super to defeat Aero. I know you might all need it... but last time I did it, things were desperate with Black Doom. Besides, there's already three of you along with anyone else that wants to join in. That should be plenty."

"Black Doom...?" Zenox echoed with a frown on her face.

"It's a long story," Katherine waved a hand in her direction and frowned after a moment before pointing at Team Moon. "Hang on, who the heck are you people?! Besides Flame over there, but I don't know the rest of you!"

Sonic waved a hand as he took a step forward. "Wait, wait, I know these people." When everyone looked at him he waved a hand at them. "Remember when I told you about my adventure to Darrius?"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "You mean that place where cowboys went against knights?"

Sonic nodded. "Yes, that place. This is Team Moon, the same team I mentioned before..."

"Oh, the assassin team?!" Xsus said while his eyes grew big.

"Assassin team?" Flame laughed while looking at the others on her team, "Typical."

Sonic glanced over at Flame before nodding at the others again. "Yeah, that place. This is the assassin team. The only one I don't know is the black cat..."

"Zenox... my name's Zenox." Zenox said while looking at the ground for a moment.

"Nice to meet you, Zenox!" Sorro said with a grin.

The others also muttered their welcome while Sonic glanced at the other members of the team. "You guys want to introduce yourselves too."

Fengari, Flame, and Strife glanced at each other before shrugging. "The name's Fengari," Fengari said while raising a hand.

"Strife the Dark," Strife said.

"Flame," Flame raised her hand too.

The others greeted the three of them and as soon as that was over, Chaos the hedgehog raised his own hand, causing all to look at him. "Hang on, guys, let's get back to focus now that we all know each other. The Chaos Emeralds. How are we going to get them if the majority of them are at Sonic's house?"

"I bet if we use Chaos Control we can get there in a jiffy," Knuckles said as all glanced over at him, "I know exactly where they're hidden too."

"Alright, Knuckles gets to go then." Kelly said and she glanced at the others. "And I want to go too. I know I can help out."

"I'll be coming too then," Hydro shrugged when all glanced over at him. "If it wasn't for me none of this would be happening. I have to owe it to all of you somehow."

"I'll go too," Tikal offered.

_"So will I," _The water element Chaos offered.

Shadow suddenly took a step forward and raised a hand, causing all to look at him as Alena suddenly jumped forward too.

"That sounds like a big enough team to me," Fengari said with a laugh. "So, Knuckles, Tikal, Chaos, Shadow... and I don't know you three..."

"Hydro, just call me Hydro," Hydro said with a nod.

"Kelly," Kelly added in.

"Alena," Alena said quietly.

"Ah right... but you..." Fengari pointed to Hydro then glanced back at Xsus as the ten-year-old boy turned his head sideways.

"It's complicated," Hydro waved a hand after glancing at his past self for a moment. "Long story short I'm him seven years in the future. Now, let's get back on track."

"Okay, so Hydro, Kelly, Alena, Tikal, Knuckles, Shadow, and Chaos head back to the mansion and get the Chaos Emeralds." Fengari said with a nod.

"Got it, Chaos Control!" Shadow called and the small group disappeared in a flash of light.

After a moment, the others looked at each other nervously until Father Darkness suddenly vanished into thin air. All that was left was a bit of wind kicking up the dust. Aero lifted his fists and also vanished, causing almost everyone to look around in confusion.

"Wait, where did they go?!" Xsus demanded while ducking behind Xerius with Sorro fearfully.

"There," Strife said seriously and pointed on top of a nearby building where both Aero and FD appeared throwing fists glowing with black energy at each other before vanishing once again.

"How did you see that?!" Flame demanded while squinting.

"Easy, concentrate on the darkness energy and..." Strife pointed again in a different direction then FD and Aero appeared, both skidding backwards less than ten feet away from the group.

Katherine grinned. "Now that takes skill. Come on! Let's help out!"

_"Wait," _Xerius lifted a hand and all looked over at him as he took a step forward. _"If we intervene with this fight we might get ourselves hurt instead."_

"But Dad...!" Sorro started to say but went silent when Xerius shot a serious look in the boy's direction before glancing at the others silently.

_"No one. No one is getting hurt."_

"That's a stupid idea," Fengari suddenly said, causing all to glance over at him. "If we just sit around here then Aero has a higher chance of winning and we can't let that happen."

Xerius' brown eyes narrowed but he said nothing as he stared silently as Fengari. The two had a stare down for a moment until Xerius flicked his wrists, extracting his claws. _"Do not question the one who sees the future."_

"You can't even talk with your mouth!" Flame barked as she took a step forward. "You just use some weird telepathic thing. How can you know anything? What if you really don't see the future? Huh?"

Xerius flinched and Sorro took a step forward, grabbing the cat's arm. "Dad... don't... I know what happened... and you can't just let your anger get the best of you again..."

Xerius froze and looked at Sorro in surprise before nodding and flicked his wrists, removing his claws. He glared at Fengari and Flame before looking away, still saying nothing.

"Maybe we should just wait for the others to come back with the Chaos Emeralds..." Katherine said as she took a step forward, breaking the thick feeling of anger in the air. "Then we can fight Aero head on."

Strife shook his head. "Fengari had a point. The longer we wait here the more of a chance..." He stopped short when Aero suddenly flew through the group, almost smashing into Cream when she wasn't tackled by a fast thinking Xsus.

"Are you okay?!" Xsus demanded to Cream while the two got back to their feet.

Cream nodded as she looked at Xsus. "I'm fine, thanks Xsus."

"Xsus...?" Zenox asked with a frown.

"Hydro is the future Xsus' call name. We call him that so we don't get confused." Sierra said seriously as she crossed her arms.

Aero on the other hand slid a few feet back. He had never recalled being so equally matched by something before. He struggled to his feet and sniffed the air, smelling the powerful taste blood in the air along with darkness.

He hesitated too long.

Father Darkness appeared out of the darkness and slammed his fist into Aero's gut, smirking as Aero bent over in pain. His yellow eyes glowed as he looked at Aero's black eyes. "You think it was a good thing to remove the Dark Chaos Energy from within me? Heh, and by biting me... you removed the power that kept me trapped in that form for so long, and now that it's gone, you've done nothing but released my true power." He took a step back as Aero stumbled away, cursing FD quietly to himself while wrapping his hands around his gut, wheezing slightly.

After a moment, Aero suddenly smirked and stood up, feeling the moment of pain slide away like a wet bar of soap. "I think you're mistaken. Your Dark Chaos Energy has have returned me to my original form. What if I bit you again? What would happen then?"

"Then, you would find nothing of any usual importance." FD showed a dark grin that stretched unnaturally upwards on his face, revealing all of his sharp teeth. "I have no blood. Only darkness."

-XXXXXXXX-

"Prepare to become mine!" Emily said with a grin and lunged forward.

"ZAP!" Windy cried.

"GET OFF OF ME, YOU CREEP!" Zap roared as he closed his eyes tightly. He then suddenly found unknown strength to smash his knee into Emily's stomach and she froze in mid lunge. Her eyes widened and she spluttered before falling over onto the ground next to Zap as he opened his eyes slowly.

Windy stood before him as Emily coughed next to him and Zap slowly pushed himself to his feet, then noticed the wide eyed look on Windy's face.

"What's wrong?" Zap asked her.

"H-have you looked at yourself recently...?" Windy asked nervously while waving a hand at him.

Zap lifted a hand and blinked when he found himself glowing with bright, white energy. "What in the name of...?"

"H-how did you do that?" Windy pointed at him.

Zap shrugged and snapped, watching lightning flash between his glowing fingertips for a moment, along with another feeling of unknown energy. Then, his eyes widened as the recognition of the unknown energy hit him. "Chaos Energy..." He muttered quietly.

Windy frowned. "Chaos Energy? Since when does that have anything to do with this...?"

"Light Chaos Energy... I should've known. It was how Father Darkness kept himself as a human too after all these years. He was using Dark Chaos Energy." Zap said as he glanced up at her.

Windy eyes widened when she suddenly understood what Zap was talking about. After a moment, she found herself staring at him. He looked the same as always of course, but he seemed to be glowing with bright white energy as he looked at his glowing white clothes. He smirked when he finally noticed Windy staring. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing...!" Windy looked away and then over at Emily as she started getting up off the ground, breathing heavily.

Emily glanced at the two of them before hissing slightly.

"How are you feeling, Emily?" Zap asked her with a bit of mockery hidden in his voice as the fox struggled to her feet.

Emily spat in Zap's direction. "I will get you...!"

Zap sighed, obviously unimpressed. "Alright, give us Robyn back before I shock the lights out of you."

"Fat chance!" Emily said angrily, her eyes glowing as she glared at Zap.

Zap bent down and picked Emily up by the front of her shirt, forcing the vampire to look him in the eye. "Do not make me repeat myself."

Emily struggled in Zap's grip regardless of what he said. She hissed angrily as she glared at Zap as he rolled his eyes. "I said, give us Robyn back."

Emily said nothing again as she glared at Zap with cold eyes and Zap sighed before letting a wave electricity spark through his fingers. Emily let out a cry as the lightning brought forth pain until she fell limp in Zap's hand, twitching slightly as Zap released his grip on her.

Zap gently put the unconscious fox on the ground before wiping invisible dust off of his hands. "And that's that." He said as Emily's dark red fur slowly turned back into grey fur once more.

After a moment, Robyn let out a gasp and looked around wildly until her green-eyed gaze resting on Zap, where she tensed up, like preparing for a punch in the face. "Who...?!"

"Oh come on, Robyn, I'm a good guy. Even if I did send over a thousand volts of electricity through you a moment ago." Zap said with a grin while Robyn put a hand on her chest in shock.

"Y-you did... what?"

"Nothing," Zap bent down and helped Robyn to her feet while grinning. "You survived, that's all that matters."

Robyn only stared at him with a look that was mixed with shock and disbelief.

"Sorry about the glowing issue, we ran into some slight difficulties while fighting Emily if you couldn't tell." Zap explained as Robyn stood back up and Windy walked up to the girl before giving her a curious look.

"So, Emily's your total vampire side?" Windy asked.

Robyn looked at the ground sadly. "Yeah... I- I'm so sorry that I attacked you..."

"Don't be," Zap suddenly spoke up, causing the cat and the fox to look over at him. "You're back to normal, that's all that we care about. Now come on, Sonic and the others are probably waiting for us."

Robyn frowned and then nodded. "Okay..."

Zap smirked and then lifted a glowing fist. "That and... I want to bash FD on the side of the head."

Windy started laughing as Zap turned and started walking away, his white cape making a swishing sound as he walked away. Robyn turned to Windy as soon as he was out of ear shot and pointed in his direction. "How is Zap glowing...?"

"Light Chaos Energy..." Windy said quietly to Robyn as they started walking after him. "Zap must've released it when someone else released a large amount of Dark Chaos Energy."

"Who released the Dark Chaos Energy though?" Robyn asked with a frown on her face.

Windy shrugged. "Beats me, maybe it was Emily."

"Maybe..." Robyn said with a frown.

"Come on, Zap probably wants us to stay close. Who knows where Aero/the Ultimate Project is?" Windy said with a laugh and both girls ran to catch up to Zap as he led the way.

**Well, there you go! The next chapter will... *looks at Sierra and laughs again***

**Sierra *shakes her head slowly while scowling* "Please do review." *presses the power button on the computer which turns everything black***


	26. Chapter 26

**The final battle is... _almost_ among us! Thanks goes to the Ohana for reviewing and inubaka07 for favoriting the story!**

**Amicus= *laughs as you fly around* You didn't? Well the Sierra Navadas or the Sierra Mountains they're in California... and I've never been there either. *sighs* I've seen them from a distance though! *laughs like an idiot at the Hawkeye comment* I remember that part...!  
*sighs that Amare is gone* FD has the ability to scare the lights out of almost everyone.  
Zap *scowls at the shiny comment***

**Retto= Retto, my bro (technically we're related if we're considered a Ohana), I have Xerius. I know many, many things –as creepy as that sounds it's true. *laughs*  
Ah, that comment. That was actually my original plan... and then I changed my mind halfway through it. I was in a bit of a hurry uploading that chapter and only after posting it did I realize that error... but no. That's not the case anymore.  
Xsus *side steps the attack and watches it slice a tree in half with a frown before looking at Retto. Clenches his fist and throws a punch Retto's way (even though he's twenty feet or so away from him now). Wall of water appears from thin air and flies towards Retto***

**Storm= …..Lol! Wow, that was short. Did you like it, Storm?**

**Raeweis= It's all good! Ooooh dial connection... *shudders* it was fun though, right? Yes! And now to defeat Mr. Chocolate Bar along with a glowing Zap!  
Zap *glares at me*  
Sierra *scowls as you laugh***

**UFO= Oh thank Alvainia you're back! And it's all good. *takes the gummy bears back* But seems to me you like the stories and good, as long as your catching up on the other's stories that's what matters...! Hope to see you again, UFO!**

**Strife= You are quite excited to see that part in that one chapter aren't you? Don't worry, it'll come soon.**

**Maraya= Exactly! And during school you struggle not to fall asleep...!  
*grins* Haha Zap! Looks like you can't stop her!  
Zap "...and for your new prediction? I'll answer this one. Half right...ish."  
FD *glares at you as you walk away before marching off, muttering about being evil and not having a care in the world for anyone. Then face palms when he sees you in the shirt*  
Me "I know...!"  
Zap "Oh come on. Yes I'm a guy..."  
Windy *smirks* "A really annoying one."  
Zap "Ha ha."  
Flame and Xerius *glare at each other before looking away***

**Chaos= I remember! Don't worry, little bro! I remember! *laughs as Xsus lifts a fist to your cry* Xsus is up to help you.  
Yep! The final boss is... almost... among us.**

**Strife and Chaos=  
Me *****gladly steps to the left* "Alright! Both of you can get him! Catch him if you can!"  
Zap *glares* "What?! BlackSandHeart! Do I get a say for this?!"  
Windy *appears with a poke ball in hand and a smirk on her face* "No, now if anyone should get the right to catch you it should be me."  
Zap *glares at Windy* "What...?!"  
Windy *smirks and starts running towards Zap* "Come here, Zappy!" *lifts the poke ball*  
Zap *curses, turns and runs with Windy running after him.*  
Me "Well... you guys better run! Windy already has a head start." *grins***

**Disclaimer= (okay, here it is Rya ^^ and it's story mode too! But no, I won't repeat the disclaimer for this chapter. You all know what it is already)  
Sierra growled as she looked at her enemies below her as Chaos lifted a fist. "What? Are you scared?"  
"Not entirely." Sierra suddenly appeared behind Chaos and flung her sword upwards as UFO quickly grabbed Chaos' arm and yanked him out of the way.  
"Thanks…!" Chaos yelped as Sierra slashed at Strife as he ducked out of the way along with Retto as she swung her sword at him too.  
"No problem, be careful though!" UFO said with a grin.  
Raeweis looked around. "We need to find something that could stop her…"  
Blackie frowned, looking thoughtful while thinking of all of Sierra's weaknesses. "Omear… he could stop her."  
"Omear?" Retto asked while glancing over at her.  
Blackie nodded, still looking thoughtful. "Omear was the person who taught Sierra everything she knows. Y'know, like how Windy taught Katherine? Omear taught Sierra. Problem is, I doubt he'd help us and he's a Follower of Darkness that would love to kill us instead of helping us… never mind then. I don't have an idea."  
Storm jumped out of the way as Sierra sliced at her before looking at Blackie. "Then how do we stop her from trying to hack our heads off?!"  
Sierra lifted her sword as she appeared above Storm, she smirked triumphantly and she lowered the sword at Storm's head. "You don't!"  
Rya jumped forward and tackled Sierra, knocking the black cat out of the way from decapitating Storm as she glanced back in surprise. "What kind of person are you?!" Rya yelled at Sierra. "I thought we were friends!"  
Sierra hissed as she tried to get out of Rya's grip. "Get off of me!"  
"No!" Rya yelled as the others gathered around her. "Start talking, now! Why are you trying to kill all of us?! You're even trying to kill your creator!"  
Sierra growled as she glared at Rya. "You can't get me to say anything."  
Strife rolled his eyes in disbelief. "Don't make this any harder for yourself. Just tell us why already."  
Sierra growled and after a moment, her ice blue eyes glowed a black and red color.  
Amicus paled along with the others as they looked at the struggling Sierra. "Oh no, not again…"**

Chapter Twenty-Six=

"Come on...!" Katherine paced back and forth angrily, occasionally glancing up at the sky every twenty seconds or so. "What is taking them so long...?"

"No patience still even after all these years," Sierra muttered as she rolled her eyes at Katherine.

On top of the nearby buildings, FD and Aero continued fighting with each other with blasts of dark energy appearing every other second. A few of the others tried jumping forward to help out but a snarl from FD or Aero would bring them back to the ground, not wanting to help out anymore. Now all that they were doing was waiting for the ones that went to Sonic's mansion to bring back the Chaos Emeralds.

Suddenly, in a flash of light, Shadow appeared with the ones who left with him: Hydro, Kelly, Alena, Tikal, Knuckles, and Chaos the water element. As soon as Katherine saw them, she let out a sigh of relief before giving Shadow a tight hug. "Thank the Light Givers..."

Chaos the hedgehog and Maria Robotnik jumped forward and joined in the group hug, making it a four way hug for a moment while Sonic ran forward to the newcomers, seeing that everyone in the group was carrying a Chaos Emerald.

Hydro tossed the light blue Chaos Emerald in the air before catching it then looked at Sonic. "Alright, we got the emeralds... I suppose you're going to go super and take Aero out that way?"

Sonic nodded as Hydro gave the emerald to Sonic along with the others in Hydro's group. "Yeah, that's the plan. Let's just hope it works." Sonic gave Hydro his trademark grin before looking at the others. "So, who's going to help me out with this one when it comes to taking Aero out?"

"I will," Shadow took a step forward.

"I'll help," Chaos said as he took a step forward and quickly glanced at Katherine, who shook her head no. He looked at Maria next, who nodded her head while smiling faintly.

"Me three!" Xsus raised a hand and then lowered it when he saw Xerius glaring. "Oh, never mind..."

"I'll help out too," Strife said as he took a step forward, causing all to glance over at him in surprise.

"Great! Thanks for the help, all of you." Sonic gave everyone a thumbs up. "Now let's do this!"

Shadow, Chaos, and Sonic laid the emeralds in a ring on the ground. Then they took a step forward into the ring and closed their eyes, focusing on the power of the Chaos Emeralds. Strife, on the other hand, kept his distance from the glow as the Chaos Emeralds slowly became brighter and brighter.

After a flash of bright light, Sonic and Shadow found themselves glowing the familiar golden color of being super. They both glanced at each other and nodded before glancing over at Chaos who lifted a fist into the sky, his red fur was now white and his streaks were a golden color as he looked at the other two and also nodded. He, unlike Sonic and Shadow, was in his Hyper Form.

"You can do it, Chaos!" Maria suddenly called and Chaos looked back at her before grinning and shooting off into the sky with Shadow, after the ebony hedgehog nodded silently to the quiet Alena.

Alena's face turned red as soon as he did that and she ducked behind Katherine as the black cat looked up at the sky with a smile on her face as Chaos and Shadow floated into the sky.

"Don't die on me, caudex." Flame said as she playfully punched Strife's arm as Fengari and Zenox walked forward.

Strife rubbed his arm while giving Flame a look. "I won't! I won't!"

Zenox laughed. "Well, be careful while you're up there."

Strife nodded as he tore his gaze away from Flame to look at the black cat. "I will."

Fengari chuckled. "Or else Flame will have to go on a rage mode to save _you_."

Flame scowled at Fengari. "I will not!"

Strife rolled his eyes before turning and vanishing into the darkness.

Sonic crouched down to jump into the sky but stopped when he felt dark eyes staring into his back. He glanced back to look at Sierra as she stood behind him with a sad look on her face. Sonic frowned then stood back up and walked over to her.

Sierra looked up at Sonic in surprise while Amy seethed on the other end of the circle, but neither seemed to notice her existence at the moment. He gently took Sierra's hand in his own before smiling at her. "I'll be back."

Sierra sighed, her icy blue eyes seeming to melt as she looked at the ground again. "I... I hope so."

"Hey..." Sonic gently took her chin and forced her to look at him again. "I _will_ be back. I promise."

Sierra smiled weakly before taking a step forward and wrapping her arms around Sonic's neck. "Please be careful." She whispered into the blue blur's ear, watching it twitch to prove he registered her words, before she let go and took a step back.

Sonic chuckled and gave her a thumbs up while looking into her blue eyes. "I will, just for you." With that, he crouched down and launched himself into the sky after Shadow and Chaos.

"What took you so long, Faker?" Shadow asked darkly while Chaos laughed next to him as Sonic floated up before them.

Sonic rolled his eyes and decided to ignore the comment. He turned his attention to FD and Aero, who both slammed their fists into each other's face and slid back a few feet, both breathing heavily but both had deranged smiles on their faces.

"There they are, come on, let's go... hey... where's Strife?" Sonic said and he looked around in confusion as the dark hedgehog appeared on a nearby rooftop.

"Here, now can we go?" Strife asked as he crossed his arms.

Sonic nodded and the four of them shot towards the building FD and Aero were on while the others stayed on the ground...

...until they heard a voice calling out behind them. All glanced back in surprise to see Zap, Windy, and Robyn running towards them... or at least Zap in a strange, glowing form. Everyone took a surprised step back as Zap slid to a stop and looked at, laughing. "How are you guys doing?"

"Who the heck…?!" Katherine scowled and then frowned. "Wait... Zap?!"

Zap bowed dramatically as he glowed a white color next to Windy and Robyn, "The one and only." He stood back up and frowned at a nearby rooftop as a flash of bright light appeared and the building crumbled. "So, it looks like you brought the Chaos Emeralds into this?"

"Yes... and what happened to Emily?" Cosmo asked as she looked over at Robyn.

Robyn nodded to Zap and Windy. "These two stopped her."

"Really?!" Kelly said, her eyes growing big as she glanced over at the two immortals.

Zap shrugged. "It wasn't too bad... I think I released the Light Chaos Energy though to stop her from killing me... do any of you have any idea who released the Dark Chaos Energy though?"

Tikal took a step forward and waved a hand at the rooftops. "Father Darkness did and transformed himself back into a cat."

"Back into a cat, huh? This should get interesting..." Zap said as he crossed his arms and looked at the sky as a flash of bright lights appeared from where Zap looked as Sonic, Strife, Shadow, and Chaos all jumped into the fight against Aero with Father Darkness.

Windy frowned after a moment and suddenly glanced over at Katherine with a frown. "Hang on, what in the name of the Light Givers are you doing here still?"

Katherine frowned as she glanced over at Windy. "What are you talking about?"

"Why aren't you helping them out?"

"Because there are already enough people..." Katherine said slowly, but sounded unsure of that answer herself.

Windy wagged a finger at Katherine while walking towards her. "If you don't help out then everyone up there could die, you know that right?"

"Hey who said anything about me wanting them to die...?!"

Windy's green eyes narrowed as she stopped before her. "You don't want them to die, do you?"

"Of course not...!"

"Then stop sitting here like an idiot and go help them!" Windy said with a laugh as she pushed Katherine forward, towards the ring of Chaos Emeralds that were still circling around each other on the ground, right where Sonic, Shadow, and Chaos were standing at earlier.

Katherine let out a yelp as she fell into it and a flash of bring light surrounded her. She sighed in disbelief and a moment later, she found her black fur now glowing a golden color. "Alright, I'll help them out..." Katherine said with a sigh as she looked at her glowing figure then glanced at the others. "For the future?"

Hydro lifted a fist with a grin. "For the future!"

Katherine laughed and shot herself into the air to join the fight as the Chaos Emeralds stopped glowing brightly and fell back to the ground, looking like the average emerald. Zap frowned as he bent down and picked one of the emeralds up while Rouge ran forward and started gathering the rest of them in her arms excitedly. As he looked at the emerald, he felt a tug in the pit of his stomach and looked at his hand, seeing that he wasn't glowing anymore.

"Interesting..." Zap said as he stood back up, still holding the emerald.

Robyn suddenly ran forward and looked to the sky. "I need to help them out too...! They're going to need it."

Hydro frowned as he glanced back at Robyn. "Are you sure?"

"Positive, I know all of Aero's weaknesses!" Robyn said as she nodded while looking at Hydro.

"Well then," Zap said as he stood up and tossed the dull emerald in his hands, causing everyone to look at him in surprise to see he wasn't glowing anymore. "You better hurry. We're wasting time by sitting here and talking."

Robyn nodded and was about to run off when she was tackled by Tails as he jumped forward to gave her a hug. The fox looked up at her with his big blue eyes as she looked down at him. "You be careful, Robyn, you hear me?"

"I will, Tails, don't worry!" Robyn laughed and returned the hug. After a moment, the two parted and Robyn jumped onto the buildings to join the fight.

-XXXXXXXX-

Robyn started climbing onto the rooftops then ducked as a beam of golden energy flew over her head. As soon as the blast was gone, she cautiously peaked over the rooftop she was hanging off of to see Super Sonic drop down on top of Aero and the two started rolling on the ground, throwing punches at each other as Shadow and Chaos also dropped down in their powered forms.

Robyn was about to jump onto the building when she felt a hand grab her by the back of her shirt and pull her to her feet onto the building. She glanced up at the person who pulled her up, Strife, as he looked down at her. "Hanging there will get you killed." He said to her flatly when she looked at him in confusion.

Robyn laughed weakly. "Oh... sorry..."

Strife vanished into the darkness after looking at Aero and left Robyn behind as the fox quickly lit her hands up with Starfire and jumped into the fight to help out. As she charged at Aero, Sonic quickly jumped off of Aero to let Robyn attack him.

As soon as Sonic got off of him, the vampire hedgehog jumped back to his feet. However, he only had enough time to look over to his left as Robyn's glowing fist connected with Aero's jaw line.

Aero slid backwards from the punch before hissing angrily at her. Robyn showed a confident grin and in her little moment of victory, Aero jumped forward and grabbed her arms, forcing them behind her back as he moved behind her. He leaned into her neck as Sonic, Shadow, Chaos, froze in front of him. Katherine dropped down too and then suddenly froze when she saw the situation Robyn was in.

"Take another step and I bite..." Aero hissed threateningly as Robyn froze, trying not to move as his hot breath blew down her neck.

Sonic waved his hands at Aero. "Wait... you don't need to do this...!"

Aero chuckled. "Yes I do..." His black eyes flickered backwards for a moment. "And don't you two try anything either."

Strife sighed angrily as he appeared out of the darkness along with Father Darkness who looked extremely bored by the action.

"Is this really necessary?" FD asked. "Using a poor, innocent woman as a victim?"

Aero hissed while glancing over at FD for a moment. "I can do what I want."

"Too slow!" Chaos yelled as he suddenly jumped forward and pulled Robyn out of Aero's grip. The vampire hedgehog's eyes widened in shock as Chaos lifted a hand towards Aero's chest. "Chaos Blast!"

The blast of bright energy appeared in the palm of Chaos' hand and knocked Aero across the rooftop. He smashed into another building on the other side of the street below while Chaos looked at Robyn worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine!" Robyn insisted while using one of her hands to rub the side of her neck frantically.

"What is your plan to destroy him now?" FD asked while looking at Robyn, his yellow eyes glowing unnaturally as Aero crawled out of the building he was blasted into, muttering curses under his breath.

Shadow crossed his arms and all glanced over at FD. "We could try the same thing we did last time. Don't forget what Zap said, he could only do the mind jumping thing once apparently. If we try killing him the same way we tried last time it might just work. And he'll stay dead."

"And what was that?" Strife asked with a frown.

"Drive an electrified stake into his heart, burn him, and spread the ashes." Robyn said quietly as she continued rubbing the side of her neck.

"An electrified stake? Where are we going to find one of those?" Father Darkness chuckled. "We aren't exactly anywhere near a place that would have a stake at the moment now are we?"

The others looked around and saw that he was right until Sonic took a step forward. "We used a stick and that seemed to do the trick."

"A stick...?" Strife repeated with a frown.

"I know, sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? But it worked." Chaos said with a nod.

"So," Sonic continued, causing everyone to look over at him as he continued. "If we try the same thing we did last time... then it should work. Someone find something sharp and wooden and give it to Ria or Zap to electrify it. Then..."

Aero suddenly appeared next to Sonic before he could finish his sentence and slammed his fist into Sonic's gut, causing Sonic to bend forward in pain while the other's eyes widened in shock.

"Lightning doesn't strike in the same place twice," Aero chuckled. "How sure are you that it'll work again?"

"Only one way to find out..." Sonic said through gritted teeth as Aero took a step back then jumped out of the way as Shadow, Chaos, and Katherine blasted him with a flash of bright light all at the same time.

Aero let out a wild screech of laughter and vanished suddenly, avoiding the attack. "Catch me if you can...!"

Everyone on the building looked around in confusion before looking at each other once more.

"All of you," FD said as he pointed at the hedgehogs, the fox, and the cat before him. "Weaken him. I'll find this... _stake_."

The others nodded and all went in their separate directions, the majority of them heading towards Aero while Father Darkness looked at the others on the ground, yellow eyes glowing.

**Chapter done! Alright... I'm tired... and kind of sick... so I'll try to upload again soon... but please do leave a review! See you around!**


	27. Chapter 27

** This is a bit of a creepy chapter... but that might be because I was listening to "This is Halloween" by Marilyn Manson as I wrote this... so if it's too creepy for you... sorry. Anyways, thanks goes to my Ohana for reviewing and Metalshadow1909! Not only that though but we now broke two records: the amount of chapters for one story I've written (yeah, we beat Day of the Dead XD) and amount of reviews received! Thanks people!**

**Strife= Pssh Nico's one of my favorite characters...  
Anyways, so yeah. I kept Strife away from the emeralds, and yes. They do act quite similar except when FD talks he usually does it to mock someone but yeah...**

**Chaos= Haha! **_**Now**_** we've beaten the chapter record. Victory!  
Windy *glares then grabs Chaos' leg, tripping him* "Haha!"  
Zap *glances back and sighs before teleporting*  
XD Alright Chaos. Even I say you deserved that point. But yes, we've owned that caudex named Terrarock so many times now...**

**Retto= Burn and salt the body?! What did you do to the snail?! But nice song choices... *grins* then you should poke your grandmother's cat!  
Xsus *glances back in surprise before spinning around, creating an ice katana in his hands as he does so. Swings at Retto's head***

**Storm= Sierra *scoffs* "So what?"  
Caudex! Don't decapitate my TNP!  
Sierra *grumbles and marches away angrily, throwing back death glares at all of us*  
Katherine "I did go and help!" *laughs*  
Yep! So I put in a cute sibling moment, I love writing those and reading them too haha.  
FD "Yes 'poor innocent woman'. I said it, I meant it."**

**Raeweis= There you are! I was wondering where you've been! Haven't seen you on the forum so I had to wonder... but anyways, to the review... so yes! The stake has got to work... hopefully.  
And thanks! I'm still sick though... it's a miserable sickness.**

**Rya= That's the problem though! When you don't want to sleep and then you pass out anyways...  
Zap *points to FD* "I would never work with this fool unless it was a very good reason!"  
FD *glares at Zap* "Either that or it's you being a fool again."  
Zap "I am not a fool...!"  
FD *eyes widen and face goes red with your comment* "D-do not!"  
Windy *smirks at Zap* "Yes. With time."  
Zap "I'm fine right now!"  
Windy *leans to you* "Over thirteen trillion years old and he still hasn't grown out of this, you're sure, right?"  
*nods* Oh yeah. It's always like this, *sarcastically* the love is so thick in here.  
Sierra *blinks* "You wouldn't dare tickle me!"  
It's Rya. She probably will.  
Sierra *turns and starts running*  
*grins and pulls out a bottle of pink face paint* Okay! Let's go get her! :P  
So yes! You got your SonicxSierra moment. You fans deserved that moment!  
Windy *chuckles* "What? Someone had to guard the others."  
Lol when you point it out like that then of course it's hilarious. "Hello Mr. Aero. Hold still, I'm going to take you out with this stick..." XD  
FD *gives you an annoyed look* "So what?"**

**Amicus= *looks at you in the fatal position* Well... I can't tell you if they survive or not... but for Alvainia's sake don't die!  
Zap "I am not a pretty glowing person!" *grumbles something about being a man while crossing his arms*  
And thank you! Glad you liked all those parts (I wouldn't trust him either...) but sadly I'm still sick :( but yeah... I'll get better soon, watch me XD**

**UFO= *starts laughing* now everyone's gold! Hmm... element huh? I'd take the wind all the way... but yes. Aero is the final boss. And let's go with FD cares too much about his ego.  
Zap *curses and runs faster before finally teleporting away*  
Windy *yelps and teleports to the other side of the battle field* "NO FAIR!"  
And for your question...? Probably not much longer... *pales* And what's the surprise?**

**Metalshadow1909= New kid! Sorry, I couldn't help it, I couldn't help it! *laughs* Anyways, hello! I think I'll call you Metal though, if you don't mind! So anyways, glad to see the story's well written! I've been trying to do that, sees that I have succeeded *grins* but don't worry! You'll see how this turns out soon... but thank you so much for the review, Metal! Or maybe I should call you Shadow... but anyways, thank you again!**

**Disclaimer=  
Blackie "Look! A new kid!" *drags Metalshadow1909 into the room* "And I'm calling him Metal, either that or Shadow. Say hello, Shads!"  
Metal "Oh... hi!"  
Retto "Hmm... looks like another new face is among us."  
Strife "Hopefully you're not like those other reviewers that review once then run away..."  
Rya *runs up and shakes Metal's hand* "Hi! Nice to meet you, my name's Maraya..."  
Amicus *laughing* "Don't scare the new kid...!"  
UFO *hands Metal some gummy bears* "Don't give them to the others..."  
Storm "I say you should state the disclaimer before we get to know you a bit better."  
Metal "Okay, sure... um... Sonic and company belong to SEGA, Strife owns... who was it? Um..."  
Raeweis *hands him the paper* "Here you go."  
Metal "Thanks! Okay, so Strife owns Fengari, Zenox, and Strife, some ideas, and shares a character named Alena with Blackie. Blackie owns the Dimension Jumpers. Aero, Kelly, and Robyn are owned by Storm and Chaos owns Chaos."  
Chaos *applauds* "Nice job Shadow!"**

**Okay, stop. Right. There. Ahem. ****The final battle is among us! Pull out your Ipods/mp3s/open YouTube/or anything else that you have and find your action song and now be prepared to press play…! (And let me know what song you picked in the review too…) Some songs for you if you can't think of one: "This is Halloween" –Marilyn Manson, "Monster" –Skillet, "I'm Not Dead Yet" –For All Those Sleeping (but you might not like that one… I still can't figure out why **_**I**_** like it), "What I've Done" –Linkin Park.**

…**okay, press play *smirks***

Chapter Twenty-Seven=

"Chaos Blast!" Shadow yelled as he appeared above Aero and threw his hands downward, his palms facing the dark hedgehog as Aero glanced up at him in surprise. Aero had no time to move as a blast of hot, golden energy smashed into Aero's back and caused him to crash hard into the ground, sliding a few hundred feet forward before jumping to his feet.

Before the hedgehog had a chance to return an attack to Shadow, Katherine suddenly appeared behind him with her sword in hand and a smirk on her face as she sliced upwards while Aero spun around to face her. Aero managed to take a step back to avoid getting his head sliced, off but it was close enough that he could see the blade cut through some of his chest fur and barely scratch the tip of his nose.

Katherine growled and threw the blade forward. Aero quickly side stepped the attack at the last moment, but watched more fur get sliced off. _Too close..._ Aero managed to think to himself. He looked over as Katherine lifted her sword with both of her hands and then swung the sword sideways while jumping forward. Aero quickly jumped backwards, avoiding the attack, and then launched himself back into the air.

He chuckled as Katherine's sky blue eyes watched him rise into the air but Aero suddenly let out a yell of pain as he felt two fists smash into his head. He barely had time to glance back to see Chaos behind him with a smirk on his face as he slammed his fists into Aero's head, causing the hedgehog to fall back to the ground.

Aero stumbled to his feet as soon as he had crashed into the ground, breathing heavily now, he didn't expect an attack like that head on with such strength. He turned around to blast Chaos when he then saw movement to his left and froze, looking into the darkness until a blast of purple energy shot out towards him.

Aero jumped out of the way from the Starfire attack as Robyn jumped out of the shadows and blasted Aero again with anther blast of Starfire. The hedgehog ducked underneath it before jumping into the air again, barely avoiding another blast from Robyn.

Aero landed on a nearby building and then ducked as he sensed something appear behind him as Sonic's fist barely missed the back of his head. Aero glanced backwards and hissed as Sonic then used his foot to kick into Aero's stomach as he turned, causing the hedgehog to lean forward and gasp in shock before lifting out a hand and blasting at Sonic. But, the now golden blur jumped out of the way by launched himself into the air and easily avoiding the attack as Aero continued to breathe heavily, but he still had enough strength to fight on.

Suddenly, more movement and Aero glanced to the left corner of the building as another hedgehog appeared. Strife smirked as Aero growled angrily, showing the hedgehog his fangs.

"Darkness Drain," Strife said seriously and Aero fell over, feeling like half of his energy was slowly getting taken away while a cold feeling washed over him. As soon as the moment was over, Aero found himself gasping for breath as Strife took a step towards him.

"Get away from me...!" Aero growled and then disappeared before reappearing on the bottom of the building, away from Strife as the hedgehog looked down at him, on all sides around Aero, the others appeared. Shadow appeared behind him, Sonic to Aero's left, Chaos to Aero's right, and Katherine and Robyn stood on opposite corners diagonal from Aero as Strife stood in front of him.

Aero looked around at his enemies and hissed while breathing heavily. He was surrounded...

...but he suddenly smirked. Why? Because, he could deal with that issue without breaking a sweat.

-XXXXXXX-

As the fight went on behind him, FD dropped down onto the ground and walked up to Zap as the golden cat stared at him seriously. There was a moment of silence as they stood there, staring each other down until Zap said through gritted teeth, "What do you want?"

"World domination," FD chuckled, "And to see the world in eternal darkness."

Zap growled angrily. "Then why are you talking to me?"

"Because I need your help with electrifying something," FD said with a smirk and with a flick of his hand, he revealed his axe. He held the bottom part of the axe towards Zap for him to see and Zap's eyes narrowed when he saw how the wooden shaft of the axe looked about as sharp as a sword's blade near and at the end of it.

"Electrify this for me, and all your troubles in this fight will be gone." FD smirked.

Zap glanced at the axe then at the others around him as they stared at him with looks of hope in some of their eyes. He then looked at the axe and frowned, but didn't move. He didn't even lift a finger to assist Father Darkness. The look on his face was filled with unspeakable hatred as he glared at the axe in FD's hands.

"Do it, Zap," A voice suddenly said and Zap looked over at Hydro as the cat took a step forward next to Kelly and Sorro. "If you do it then you can fix the future. Everything will go back to the way it was..."

Zap frowned while looking at Hydro. "You know you could disappear, right?"

Kelly nodded. "Then it's a risk we have to take then..."

Sorro grinned. "It's worth it! I'd rather live in a time with my parents alive then in a time by myself."

Zap growled in defeat, "Fine." He reached out and grabbed a hold of the axe, missing the dark smirk that appeared and vanished on FD's face as white lightning sparked on the axe. FD's yellow eyes glowed as he looked up at Zap. "Why thank you." He said with a smirk and then vanished, taking the axe with him as Zap felt the invisible axe dissolve in his hands into nothingness.

Zap frowned at his hand and then looked up at the others.

"What do we do now...?!" Xsus whimpered as he huddled behind Xerius and glanced at the others all around him.

"Now... we wait." Windy said quietly while crossing her arms, causing the others to glance over at her.

"But...!" Xsus started to say.

"I got a better plan," Flame suddenly said and all glanced over at her in surprise. "How about we go follow him and see if we can help? Better than sitting around and doing nothing."

Windy looked like she was about to argue but stopped when Hydro started running in the direction the battle sounds were the loudest. "I like that plan, let's go people!" He yelled as he ran.

The others looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed him.

-XXXXXXXX-

Aero chuckled as he stood taller, causing the people facing him to suddenly tense up and get into battle positions, ready for him to come at them at any given second. Aero glanced at the enemies all around him and then clenched his hands together, looking at them with great interest. "Don't you know... that if I wanted to... I could destroy this city with everyone in it?"

"What?! That's impossible!" Katherine barked, holding onto her sword with both hands.

"Is it?" Aero chuckled as he glanced over at her then at the others. "The dark hedgehog up there might've swiped half of my energy... along with the rest of you battering me constantly with your blasts and swords, but I have enough energy to do just that very thing."

"You wouldn't dare!" Shadow growled.

"Wouldn't dare to?" Aero chuckled and glanced over at Robyn. "If I can't have you then no one will. If I can't rule this world peacefully then no one _shall_! I'll just blow all of you up here and now!"

"No!" Robyn called as Aero suddenly started glowing, lifting his hands into the air for a concentrated blast.

"He's going to blow us all sky high!" Sonic yelled to the others as they all looked over at him.

"What do we do then?" Shadow called. "That's almost enough energy that none of us can stand up against by ourselves."

"Then we'll just have to try harder." Strife said. "Hit him with everything you have!"

The entire group turned their focus back onto Aero and tried blasting him but all their moves seemed to do nothing against the hedgehog, even if they did hit him. Things became even more desperate as the wind picked up around the group as Aero started laughing.

Katherine bent down and then conjured up a bow and arrow out of pure light before taking careful aim at Aero and letting the arrow lose. There was a whizzing sound as the arrow flew and then hit Aero in the shoulder. The hedgehog stumbled but managed to stay standing.

_It's like he's not even alive...! Like he can't feel anything we throw at him!_ Robyn thought to herself in horror as she blasted the hedgehog with Starfire once more, but got no result.

Strife frowned while looking at his hands. He had a plan... but it might not work very well. When he used Dark Drain, it didn't seem to do anything to him. How much better could this move be against him if that was the case? But, it was better than nothing. Strife lifted a hand above his head and concentrated, gritting his teeth angrily as he watched Chaos jump forward with his swords drawn and started to try to slice Aero. Chaos' blades hit home but Aero stayed standing, even with all the cuts and scratches Chaos was giving him.

"Chaos! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Strife finally yelled after a moment of concentration and Chaos glanced up at the hedgehog to see that Strife was holding a blast of large black energy above his hand.

Chaos was then yanked out of the way as Katherine teleported next to him and then grabbed his arm before teleporting away again. Both appeared on a nearby building next to Shadow, Sonic, and Robyn as Sonic gently put Robyn on the ground after carrying her to safety. Aero's black eyes turned up towards Strife, seeming to glow with horrible, black energy as he laughed.

"CHAOS LANCE!" Strife yelled and flung the beam of dark energy at Aero. The blast transformed into a shape of a large lance, almost the size of a three story building as it shot towards Aero. The vampire hedgehog's laugh suddenly cut short as the lance of Chaos Energy went right _through_ him and Aero let out a choking sound as the remains of blast vanished, but the scar of the attack remained. He looked down at the blood slowly dripping off of him and smoke curling off his fur before looking at the others in shock.

The energy died down and the wind stopped as Aero let out a strangled gasping sound, all his energy had left him now. It was giving all that he had left not to pass out and die now. His hands shook and his vision swam as he stole a moment to look up at Strife, who was breathing heavily from the blast, since it took up over half of his energy.

"You..." Aero hissed quietly before looking over at Robyn again as her green eyes grew wide in shock.

"W-why...!" Aero whispered, his voice too weak to cry out as he stared at Robyn, but she could read his lips and could read exactly what he said.

Robyn shook her head, saying nothing as the entire group went silent.

Aero took weak gasps of breath, trying to stay conscious and trying not to pass out from loss of energy, loss of blood, and from the attacks they gave to him. After a moment, he struggled to his feet before falling to his knees again as Shadow, Sonic, Strife, Chaos, Katherine, and Robyn jumped down to see what would happen to him next.

"W-why...?" Aero repeated to Robyn as he looked at her sadly.

"Because you're a monster who deserves to die," Robyn said to him, not finding any pity in her heart as Aero took another shaky breath.

"Bu-but... I- I love... you...!" Aero whispered as he reached out to Robyn, who took a surprised step back, her face full of disgust.

"Should we kill him?" Shadow asked dryly while glaring at Aero.

"He's going to die soon anyways. He lost too much of his energy already." Strife said.

"Maybe we should just put him out of his misery." Katherine said slowly.

"He deserves this kind of death." Chaos said. "He already tortured so many people and ruined so many lives in the future. Hydro, Kelly, Sorro, and even Robyn here are perfect examples of what Aero has done."

Robyn nodded in agreement. "Okay, don't touch him."

There was a moment of silence as Aero reached out further with his hand, trying to at least grab Robyn's shirt until he suddenly froze, his eyes widening in shock and pain while the others who were watching him had their eyes widen as well.

Aero slowly looked back at Father Darkness, at the Lord of Darkness' dark grin on his face. An electrified axe was sticking out of Aero's upper chest, and that was what the others were staring at in shock. Aero stared back at FD with big, dying black eyes as FD smirked and leaned towards Aero. "I told you she hated you." He chuckled as he pulled the axe's shaft out from Aero's chest and smirked before leaning on it.

The others' were still too busy being in shock of what Father Darkness had just done. None had time to stop him when he snapped his fingers and spoke again, "Dark Fire."

Aero screeched as he was suddenly surrounded by black flames and Katherine bit her lip before looking away along with many of the others while Strife stared silently at Father Darkness.

As the flames flickered in front of him, Father Darkness laughed darkly, yellow eyes glowing. "_I_ am the Ultimate Monster, Never forget that."

**And scene! Okay, I have something fun for you all to try out. Try to figure out what I'm sick with, Henry style (or the white bird from the beginning of the story)!**

**-I am sick with something that does not have many needs  
It does not think  
but it does in fact deal with breathing.  
With a coughing and hacking,  
your ribs feel like cracking  
Not enough breath,  
You feel yourself growing closer to death.  
Is it a cold? You may ask,  
No, it's not a cold.  
Oh no, it's something far worse than that.**

**Don't forget to review, guess what I'm sick with, and what song you picked! See you all later! Oh and just real quick, if you want my opinion I say Strife killed Aero.**

**FD "Oh poppy cot! You know I destroyed Aero!"**

***gives FD an annoyed look* Oh **_**please**_** FD. He was going to die anyways...**

**FD "And that doesn't give me the right to quickly kill him?"**

**No it doesn't, caudex. Anyways, please do leave a review!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Hello readers! Sorry for the delay… all the teachers got irritated with me and handed me a bunch of homework after I got sick with pneumonia (meaning that Maraya's the winner for guessing right! She gets a cookie! *grins* with everyone who guessed bronchitis… so close… you get half a cookie instead!). But now I'm all caught up and can bring you this chapter!**

**But anyways, thanks goes to the Ohana for reviewing and Metalshadow1909!**

**Chaos= Nice song choice! *offers high-five with a grin*  
Agreed. Aero totally deserved that death… *starts laughing as you lift the sword and call victory with the OCs* Nice.  
Put up your next chapter soon, Chaos…! I'm impatient… I know. :P**

**Amicus= *pales as you threaten me* If I'm already dead how can you kill me, Corpish? XP  
Zap *looks at Windy and shrugs*  
See?! And it's because of that that makes me go 'and why do I like this song again…?' Skrillex huh? I've heard of them but never actually listened to them…  
Yes! I tried to make it seem that FD and Zap were holding back a silent grudge against each other… which they are… but anyways, you get the idea. :P Seems that I did good with the chapter **_**and**_** the story! It's always good to know that you've done a better job then you did last time… always a good feeling.  
Hydro "Aha! Victory!" *lifts his hands into the air and runs around*  
Xsus "I knew you still had some kid left in you, Hydro!" *giggles as Hydro stops running and rolls his eyes***

**Raeweis= Yeah! He's dead… hopefully *smirks*  
Breaking Benjamin… I've heard of them too… hmmm… *opens YouTube*  
Anyways, thanks you were close though… here's a half of a cookie! *hands one over then whispers* Cream made it, so it's gotta be good.**

**Strife= *laughs* you're welcome! It was actually quite fun writing that part… but glad to see you liked it, means a lot, really.  
*looks at Strife and laughs harder***

**Retto= I need to play those games *annoyed look and then glances at Luna in surprise before patting your head* There there…  
Oh good song! Haha  
Anyways, you were close with the guess, here's half a cookie. It was pneumonia… close though.  
Sure! We can drop the rule!  
Xsus "Alright then…" *lifts free hand and blasts you with Light Energy***

**Nomad= Sierra *rolls her eyes*  
FD *shrugs* "Or did I mean it?"  
Katherine "Wow, talk about creepy."  
FD *shrugs and then flicks a hand, causing Katherine to fly to the other side of the room*  
Katherine *lands on her feet and then glares at FD* "WAS THAT NECESSARY?!"  
Zap "No, I didn't want to help him out. He didn't deserve it. Aero was going to die anyways."  
Haha! I love that song too! It's amazing…!  
So yeah… Idk if I feel bad for Aero or not… mostly not though. He is a total pervet. Also yes…the story is…  
Zap *clamps hand over my mouth* "No spoilers!"  
*glares at Zap then looks at you like 'can you believe this guy?'***

**Rya= XD Sleep is good.  
Zap and FD *go quiet while shooting death glares at each other*  
FD "No… I don't know. AND I do **_**not **_**have a heart!"  
Windy "Oh that's good. And we got you too… something's bound to happen soon."  
Zap "Windy… you're scaring me."  
Flame and Xerius *look at each other then up at you like they cannot believe you're doing this to them*  
Sierra *calls over her shoulder as she runs* "Go away!"  
Hang on Sierra! I got some face paint…!  
Sierra "GO AWAY!"  
Now thinking about it… yes… I have had all my bad guys die epically… hmm… *goes quiet and starts to think about this* But yes! I do like that title…  
FD *smirks as you inspect him* "I am invincible. And I do have that ability to say the right things at the right moments…" *listens to the 'Scourge of the Universe' comment* "Hmm… it does have a nice ring to it." *smirks darkly*  
Zap *grins* "Why thank you…!"  
Haha! You guessed right with pneumonia! Have a cookie *hands one to you with a grin* But don't worry! I won't die. It's almost over now. Just a few coughs here and there but besides that- nothing!  
FD *scoffs* "At least I got my 'Scourge of the Universe' title."**

**UFO= Wow that's a cool song…  
FD *scoffs as you agree with me then looks at your brother with a dark look*  
*looks at the bag of skittles, quickly looks around for Xsus, then takes them with a grin* Sweet! Thanks! *cautiously opens the bag and keeps looking for Xsus while taking a skittle with a sly grin*  
To answer your question: haha that would've been funny but I didn't do that… sad…  
*eyes widen while you pull out the portal gun then laughs as you call for Narnia* Niiiiice lol but yeah! We beat the 200 mark! I couldn't have done it without reviewers like you people! Thanks for everything…**

**Metal= I'd thank you for reviewing on all those stories but I can't exactly do that... *laughs weakly* But I'm glad to see you're liking all those stories! Means a lot, really. Hope you're still enjoying this story too!  
**

**Disclaimer= Blackie *drops a pile of papers into the fire*  
Chaos "What are you doing?!"  
Blackie "Burning my homework, tests, and projects…" *looks back* "With a few others…"  
Nomad *runs forward with a grin* "Here's some more!" *drops a pile of papers into the pile*  
Rya *doing a crazy dance around the fire with Amicus and both are laughing*  
Blackie *looks at Chaos* "Care to join?"  
Chaos *shrugs* "Sure!"  
Retto *throws a stick into the fire then sees a paper on the ground and picks it up* "Oh look, I found the disclaimer."  
Strife *drops a pile of papers into the fire* "What does it say?"  
Retto "The same thing it has said for all the last disclaimers." *throws the paper into the fire*  
Raeweis "You're not going to read it?"  
Retto *shakes his head no*  
UFO *runs up with a bucket of water* "Hey guys! Let's throw this bucket of water in and watch the steam rise up from the fire!"  
Everyone else "WAIT!"**

Chapter Twenty-Eight=

There was a long moment of silence as Sonic, Shadow, Strife, Chaos, Katherine, Robyn, and FD stared at the ashes of what once remained of Aero the vampire hedgehog. After a moment, FD calmly walked towards the ashes and smashed his boot into them, spreading the ashes apart until a gust of wind blew the ashes away.

The others stared as FD took a confident step back and smirked. "And the end of Aero has finally come."

Another moment of silence fell upon the group until Chaos turned to FD in anger and confusion. "Why the heck did you do that?! He was going to die anyways!"

After a moment of silence of staring at the spot where Aero's ashes used to stand at, FD shrugged as he took a step back. "He died sooner."

Chaos looked like he was going to continue to argue and the others didn't look any better when a voice suddenly cried out in joy behind them, causing all to glance back in surprise. Robyn let out a squeak as Xsus tackled her in a hug.

"You did it!" Xsus squeaked in joy as he hugged Robyn tightly and the others in the group ran up.

"Maria!" Chaos said with a grin as Maria jumped forward and gave him a flying hug that knocked him over, causing Shadow and Katherine to laugh at the two.

"I can't believe it... did we really win?" Windy asked as she walked up to Katherine.

Katherine shrugged. "I don't see why not. No one's feeling under any mind control, is there?"

The others yelled their versions of no while Charmy and Xsus clamped their hands over their ears, yelling something about not wanting to be under Aero's mind control. Katherine laughed as she grinned at Windy. "No, I think everything's fine. We won."

The others became quiet as the recognition of what was going slowly settled down on the group. Shadow, Chaos, Katherine, and Sonic stopped glowing and returned back to their normal fur colors as Alena suddenly jumped forward and gave Shadow a tight hug. "Thank you, now the future's saved because of you." She said while smiling at Shadow.

Shadow could only nod and then glanced over in surprise as Sierra jumped forward and gave Sonic a tight hug as well. "You caudex!" She scolded him. "You could've died!"

Sonic chuckled while returning the hug to Sierra. "You can't get rid of me that easily!"

Strife laughed and suddenly fell over when Flame gave him a hug. He looked at her in surprise as she wrapped her arms around his neck as Fengari and Zenox ran up to the duo. Fengari grinned. "Looks like you've done it, Strife."

"It wasn't too hard," Strife said as he returned Flame's hug, missing the smile that was growing on Flame's face.

FD chuckled, causing all to look at him in surprise. "Well, it seems to me that all of you have won."

"Not exactly," Zap scowled at FD, a look of hatred appearing in his eyes for a moment. "There's still the fact that you're here that we have to take care of."

FD rolled his eyes. "That is a fight you are all not ready for."

Hydro sighed and all looked over at him. "He has a point. We can't just take him out now. Let's just be grateful Aero's out of the way now... no one's under his control right?" He asked hesitantly.

Chaos laughed, "Well, even if he did have control over one of us, he wouldn't say anything now would he?"

Hydro rolled his eyes. "You have a point there."

Katherine laughed as everyone looked at each other suspiciously. "Come on guys, Aero's gone! And I have proof, wouldn't he be drooling over Robyn by now?"

Everyone looked at Robyn as she stood next to Kelly, who was carrying Xsus around on her shoulders. Xsus shrugged and Kelly looked at Robyn while Robyn got a disgusted look on her face.

"Well..." Hydro said after a pause and shoved his hands into his pockets before looking at the sky, which was starting to turn golden since the sun was starting to rise. "I hope the future has changed for the better... that could prove if Aero's dead or not."

Suddenly a bright golden light shined down on the square and everyone looked around in surprise as they could see nothing behind or around them but gold. The buildings, the ground, the sky, everything slowly faded away to nothing but a golden backdrop.

"What the...?" Sonic said slowly as he lifted his gloved hands to his face then looked at Sierra next to him, who shrugged, looking just as mystified.

Hydro lifted a hand into the light and sighed faintly when he saw that he was slowly started to glow a white color, and seeing himself slowly fading in and out of existence. He looked at the others from the future or from another time, seeing all of them having similar results. The ones from the current time however, weren't even glowing a little bit.

"What... what's going on?" Sorro asked as he looked at his hands and then back at his tail. "I feel like a Christmas ordainment...!"

Xsus ran up and lifted Sorro's arm. "Wow...! You look like one too!" He turned to Hydro excitedly, blue eyes glowing. "Is it Christmas time?"

Hydro shook his head no. "Not yet, Xsus, you still have to wait a few months. Or better yet, _we_ do. The future's changed... it's time for us to disappear."

"Wh-what?!" Xsus' eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as he ran up to Hydro. "But...! You can't go! It's not fair!"

"It only is," Hydro said as he ruffled up the yellow fur on Xsus' head before smiling down at him. "It's for the best, Xsus. You changed the future, now everything's going to get better."

"But...!"

"He's right," Kelly said with a nod. "I think it's time we all said goodbye."

Xsus ran forward and hugged Hydro tightly, feeling tears dripping down his face as Sierra moved over to Team Moon, Sorro ran up to Xerius and Rouge, and the others gathered around Robyn and Kelly.

FD chuckled quietly to himself and crossed his arms, "Even if the future has changed. I will one day see both dimensions in eternal darkness." Then, he vanished in a cloud of darkness that was blown away in the wind, but the others didn't seem to notice (or really care) that he was gone.

"So... this is it?" Sonic asked as he walked up to Robyn and Kelly as the two of them stood close together.

"I bet you'll see us again!" Robyn said with a laugh. "You just don't know when!"

Kelly nodded in agreement. "She's right. It's just a matter of when and where you find us again!"

Tails struggled not to cry as he ran forward and gave Robyn a tight hug. "But you can't go big sis...!" He cried. "What am I going to do without you...?!"

"You'll find me again!" Robyn said with a laugh as she returned the hug. She looked up at the others as they stood around her and smiled faintly at Cosmo. "You better take good care of him, you hear me?"

Cosmo's eyes widened as she nodded. "Oh! Of course!"

Robyn laughed as she looked at the others. Knuckles, Jason, Ria, Chase, Amy, Sonic, Zap, Windy, Kelly, Omega, Katherine, Chaos, Vector, Charmy, Espio, Cream, Cheese, Nightshade, and Maria. "I'll miss you guys..." She said with a sigh as she looked at the group before her.

"Don't say that...!" Sonic said while giving her his trademark grin and thumbs up. "You said so yourself! We'll see you again sooner or later!"

Robyn laughed weakly then stole a glance over to Shadow and Alena, noticing the two of them were in conversation until Alena finally nodded and hugged Shadow, resulting a smile to appear on Shadow's face as Robyn turned her attention back to the others, laughing along with a joke Knuckles tried to tell to cheer up the saddening moment.

"Well, it looks like I'll meet you again?" Shadow asked as he looked at Alena.

Alena nodded, looking sad for a moment. "But... look for me in another few years..."

Shadow nodded, saying nothing for a moment until he looked over at Alena. "Well then, it looks like I'll have to wait to see you again."

Alena laughed quietly to herself then looked at Shadow with a smile playing on her lips. "Don't wait too long."

Sierra sighed as she looked over at Team Moon, all members in it were glowing white and Sierra took a step up to Flame. "I should've figured you would have to leave sooner or later..." Sierra muttered quietly to her.

Flame shrugged innocently. "Well nothing good can last forever..."

"I bet it could," Strife argued as he stood next to her. Team Moon looked at the black cat before them as Sierra sighed.

"Well," Sierra stood up taller and nodded to the group. "It's been a pleasure to meet you all."

"It's good to meet you too, Sierra." Zenox said with a small smile.

Fengari grinned. "I hope we meet you again someday."

"Try not to die again," Flame said with a snicker.

Sierra looked at Flame seriously before stealing a moment to look back at Sonic. She smiled faintly before looking at Flame again, "Of course."

There was another moment of silence until Sierra suddenly took a step forward and gave Flame a tight hug. She gave the other members of Team Moon a cold look and glanced at Strife. "You all better take good care of her."

Flame muttered something about being old enough to take care of herself while Zenox laughed and nodded. "We will! We promise!"

Sorro glanced away from Team Moon and wiped a tear dripping down his face while looking up at Xerius and Rouge. "B-but...! I don't want to disappear...! It'll be scary! It means I'll never exist...!"

"Sorro, hon," Rouge said as she picked up Sorro and wrapped him in a tight hug. "Don't ever worry about not existing. You'll come back someday."

Xerius rubbed the back of his head while trying to keep his muzzle from going red with embarrassment as Rouge glanced over at Xerius with Sorro, both of their blue eyes glowing. "Isn't that right, Xie?" Rouge asked him.

Xerius nodded, saying nothing as Sorro wiped more tears away from his eyes and sniffed, acting more like Xsus then his right age. "Y-you sure...?"

_"Positive. It's not like this is the end for you. There's still a chance you will come back."_ Xerius said to him seriously as Sorro wiped away more tears.

"Th-thanks... s-so much... I love you guys!" Sorro started balling and Rouge gave him a tighter hug before looking at Xerius as he looked too confused to do anything about this.

"Come on, Xie, group hug."

Xerius chuckled nervously and then was pulled into a group hug with Rouge and Sorro while finding himself smiling faintly. For the first time in what felt like years, the thoughts of his old family and his little sister finally vanished as Xerius smiled.

Hydro chuckled after glancing over at them and looked down at Xsus, who was stubbornly wiping away a river of tears falling down his face. He bent down and forced his younger elf to look at him. "Hey... hey, don't cry."

"B-but...!" Xsus sniffed. "What am I g-gonna do without you, H-Hydro?"

Hydro smiled and placed a hand on top of Xsus' head. "Xsus, listen. The future changed for the better. Everything will be better now. Understand?"

"O-okay," Xsus sniffed, still rubbing one eye with the back of his hand while the other eye leaked down tears like a waterfall.

"Xsus?" A quiet voice called out behind the two. Both Xsus' looked back in surprise to see a tall rabbit standing there.

Xsus' jaw dropped as he saw the rabbit. "You! You're the one who showed me how to freeze water!"

"Cream?!" Hydro said in disbelief as he stood up to look at the rabbit as she smiled and ran forward. She hugged him tightly while resting her chin on his shoulder, glancing down at Xsus as his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

Hydro felt tears in his own eyes as he returned the hug. "C-Cream...?"

Xsus by now fell over anime style as Hydro gently kissed Cream's cheek. "You're okay..."

"The future's changed Hydro... it's time both of us left... along with the others to a better future." Future Cream whispered quietly to him. As soon as she finished saying this, everyone from the future or from another time found themselves glowing even brighter and all realized that this… this was it.

"Goodbye, Xsus, it's been an honor to meet you again." Hydro said as he took a step away from Cream and smiled at his younger self.

Xsus stood up and then saluted his future self. "It's an honor to serve you too, Hydro!"

"Bye big sis," Tails said with a small smile as tears dripped down his face.

"I'll be back!" Robyn reassured him, but she was crying herself now along with Kelly.

"You. Take. Care. Of. Flames." Sierra grumbled and with each word jabbed a finger into Strife's chest while Fengari, Zenox, and Flame laughed at him.

"I will! I will! Sheesh! Is she always like this?" Strife grumbled as he looked at Flame.

"Farewell," Alena smiled at Shadow as he nodded his head.

Sorro grinned at Xerius and Rouge before running next to Hydro and puffing his chest out proudly. "I will...! See you again someday!"

"Bye Hydro!" Xsus cried, not able to stop the tears as they flowed down his face again.

"Goodbye Xsus..." Hydro said with a smile as he wrapped Cream into another hug.

Suddenly, a bright flash of light surrounded the group and all covered their eyes to avoid going blind. When the moment passed, all found themselves standing in the remains of Central City with most of the buildings knocked down and the sun finally peaking over the horizon. After a quick look around, all became silent and realized that they were the only ones in the city. Hydro, Kelly, Sorro, Robyn, the future Cream, and Alena were missing.

Xsus flattened his ears sadly as Xerius came by and put a hand on Xsus' head reassuringly. Xsus looked up at him in surprise as Xerius gave him one of his looks. _"Don't be sad. We'll see them all again."_

"We will?"

_"Of course we will. I promise. Besides, half of the ones from the future are us."_

Xsus nodded slowly, frowning for a moment then looking up at the sky. "I'm going to miss them still..."

"We all will," Sonic said as he took a step forward. All looked over at him as he nodded then looked around the ruined city. "Well... now that Aero's finished and the future's fixed again, I say we should probably start fixing up this city before G.U.N. gets here and blames us for the damage!"

The others nodded and Sonic grinned. "Well then, let's get to work!"

**No. The story's not over yet. Anyways, because I finally got time to do these kinds of things I should be able to actually post up the next chapter tomorrow for old times' sake… yes tomorrow. So anyways, I'll see you all tomorrow and please do leave a review!**

**Xsus "You getta cupcake if you do…!" *holds one up with a grin***

**Kelly "Or a muffin…!" *grins***

**Xsus *eyes grow big with excitement* "I **_**love **_**muffins!" *pauses for a moment* "And ice cream… and cupcakes… and chocolate… and laughing… and tag… and…"**

**Kelly *tags Xsus then runs away* "You're it!"**

**Xsus *stumbles and then blinks in surprise like he can't believe that just happened to him then runs after Kelly while laughing* "I'll get you Kelly…!"**

**Quick Notes= So, Nomad posted up another short story(s) (My SSS Short Sonic Stories)  
Strife posted up another chapter in his story (Sonic the Hedgehog: The Darkness Incarnate)  
And as did Amicus. (Time Lock: It's Complicated)  
And Chaos too! (Return of Maria and the Dimension Jumpers)**

**So go read their stories after reviewing! Light be with you 'till we meet again!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Bwahahaha! Here I am, I kept my promise I posted the next day... although it's like an hour 'till midnight where I'm at...  
**

**Windy *sighs* "You've lost it again, Blackie."**

**Xsus *runs away screaming bloody murder***

**Xsus fell for it though, Wind. *grins***

**Windy *rolls her eyes* "Yeah, yeah."**

**Grim "When do I get to tell my story? I've been only popping in and out of PMs and confusing almost everyone."**

**Soon Grim, soon.**

**Sierra *scoffs* "Because I'm first Grim don't forget! My tale must be told first before yours can ever make sense."**

**FD "Incorrect Sierra, **_**I'm**_** first."**

**Sierra *glares at FD***

**Grim *flattens his ears with a sigh***

**That's enough bickering you guys. Anyways, thanks for the Ohana for reviewing!**

**Chaos= Xsus *sniffs and nods in agreement*  
*laughs as you and Chaos bicker before frowning at you* Um… should I be worried…? *suddenly laughs harder as she gets the reference* Anyways, um… haha… yeah, so glad you liked the story! That means a lot! And hope the awesome wedding, the muffin… *grins at Xsus* …and now this can make your day twice as awesome.**

**Storm=Noooo! Nomad if you cry I cry and then we're screwed 'cause we're the authors! XD  
Katherine *also helps in with trying to cheer up Nomad* "Don't cry…!"  
But I'm glad you liked that part… it was sad to write y'know… hope you like this chapter and enjoy that muffin *grins***

**Strife= And that's a good thing.  
True… he probably would be glowing more of a black then a white… *looks around for Inferno suspiciously* Caudex! Better not come around…!  
Flame "Watch him show up within the next…" *looks at nearby clock* "Five minutes."  
Xsus *grins* "Catch!" *throws chocolate muffin at you before being tackled by Kelly***

**Retto= Yay! Three lines!  
Let's see… off the top of my head: Zap, Zips, Zippie, Zappio, Zappy Boy, Zaps, Ziggy… Zigzag (XD)… need more?  
Aw not that song…! *face desks* That was such a sad song…! And it's my favorite out of all of them. Gets me every time…  
Xsus *looks up and waves* "HI RETTO!" *throws a wall of water up at you* "Don't make me fly up after you!" :P**

**Amicus= Hydro *starts laughing as Xsus runs around*  
Oh, Team Moon's leaving because they're from another time. They don't technically exist in my time period at the moment…  
Xerius *looks at you and nods* **_**"Promise."  
**_**Sonic "W-wait…!" *face turns red along with Sierra's*  
But glad you liked the story! Means a lot, really!**

**Rya= Haha! Wow… we went from Jupiter to sleeping. New, random record! *runs around like Xsus*  
Zap and FD *glare then look at you before glaring at each other again*  
FD "I DO NOT!" *scowls*  
Windy *laughs* "That is true!"  
Flame *smirks and sighs* "Alright… **_**fine**_**…"  
Xerius *nods triumphantly*  
Sierra "No! Go away!"  
Quick Rya! She's getting away XD  
FD *scoffs* "Fine. Aero can be Scourge of the Universe. Can **_**I**_** be Scourge of the Dimensions then?"  
Yep! Keep the cookie, don't forget that I am technically insane :P  
FD "No heart. Not even a little one."  
Xsus *grins and points to FD* "You should hear him rant on about how his heart's smaller than the Grinch!"  
Haha! Well if you don't like Rouge that's fine by me. I can't believe she managed to grab a hold of Xerius though, that still throws me off 'cause even I didn't expect that. Although you heard Chaos saying something about Maraya and him… *shrugs while looking at you*  
Xsus "I won't! I promise!" *sing song voice* "I'll stay a kid for forever!" :D**

**UFO= FD "Am not." *smirks*  
*looks up and then laughs at the sun comment* Oh for metal? Not sure… he hasn't been reviewing on this story so I can't say much yet… it'd be cool to have another brother though… at least… I think he's a guy. Hard to tell when you don't know them well… *frowns then laughs weakly* Dang! Sounds like you're busy! Don't stress yourself out too much…! But yeah! Friday I have a "Day of the Dead" party in my Spanish class…. (XD yeah, yeah, I see my reference) so looks like we'll both be on a sugar rush on that day! Aw… sad… maybe some other time… I haven't been on there much myself… *laughs weakly then blinks as the screen goes blank. Turns to Zap* How the heck does he do that?  
Zap *shrugs***

**Raeweis= Ooo… looks like you're busy. But hope to see you around soon!**

**DISCLAIMER=  
Blackie "Shhhh! It's back on!" *turns to TV screen excitedly*  
Windy "You're such a nerd."  
Blackie "Shhh!"  
Amicus "Who knew someone could have fun watching the weather channel…"  
Chaos *shrugs* "I never knew."  
Blackie *glares back at all of them* "We're all nerds at something. Don't forget we all write FanFictions."  
Storm "Touché…"  
Blackie "Aha! Point for me!" *lifts a fist into the air triumphantly*  
Strife *shakes his head* "Well they do say you learn something new every day…"  
Retto "Shouldn't we take shelter before it floods?"  
Raeweis "That's probably a good idea!"  
Rya *snaps* "We should run in the rain!"  
Blackie *grins* "I'll come!"  
UFO "That sounds awesome! I'll come with you people!"  
Retto *lifts a finger as Blackie, Rya, Chaos, Amicus, and UFO run outside before sighing* "And… there they go."**

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Silver the hedgehog let out a sigh of relief as he finally appeared in the right time line. Silver looked around at the beautiful green trees all around him as Blaze the cat appeared next to him, looking less relieved and more annoyed than Silver.

"I can't believe you," Blaze muttered as the two started walking through the forest, heading towards the distant skyscrapers of Central City.

"What?" Silver asked innocently. "Can't a guy use the restroom when he wants to?"

Blaze glared at him. "We were three hundred years in the past, trying to find a Chaos Emerald to get back to the future, and you had to ruin the dramatic farewell moment to Sonic's great-great-grandfather by needing to use the bathroom. We needed to get back to this time as quickly as possible, this is Sonic's time period, when does something _not_ happen in this time?"

Silver shrugged and became quiet. Soon, the two were reaching the outskirts of the city and Silver frowned at the sight they saw. It looked like someone ran around with a flamethrower and a bulldozer throughout the city. No one was in the city except Mobians and humans here and there wearing hard hats and repairing the abandoned city so civilians could return to their rightful homes.

Silver stopped as he looked around. "Wowa, what happened here?"

Blaze frowned. "It looks like a major fight broke out through here…"

Silver continued walking forward and looked from his left to his right before waving down one of the people working on the remains of a grocery store. "Excuse me!"

"What are you doing here?" The human worker demanded as he turned to the silver colored hedgehog. "No civilians allowed!"

"Oh… I'm sorry," Silver said as he took a step back. "I didn't know we weren't allowed here. Do you at least know where Sonic the hedgehog is?"

The worker rubbed his fuzzy mustache with a thoughtful look on his face. He finally nodded and pointed farther into the city. "He's in there if you want to talk to him, but I wouldn't if I were you. It's very dangerous—" The worker stopped short when he realized both Silver and Blaze weren't in front of him anymore. The worker chuckled to himself as he turned back to his work. "Kids these days…"

-XXXXXXXX-

Silver and Blaze ran through the city, jumping over boulders that were the remains of towering skyscrapers and observing the damage. Blaze frowned to herself as they ran along. _Whoever went through here had to be extremely powerful…_ she thought as she noticed a stain of dry blood on the ground before forcing herself to move on.

Silver finally slid to a stop in the city's square and sighed. "I still don't see Sonic or any of the others!" He said in frustration as he looked around.

"Patience, Silver," Blaze told him gently. "I'm sure we'll find them soon and they can explain to us what happened here."

"Heads up!" A voice called from above and Silver and Blaze looked up in surprise to see a metal beam falling towards their heads. Blaze let out a scream while Silver lifted the palms of his hands and concentrated. When his hands started glowing green, the beam suddenly froze in midair before floating away from their heads and falling to the ground with a crash behind them.

"Nice catch," Blaze breathed, finding herself breathing hard and was still stunned because she was almost crushed by a beam.

Silver grinned and glanced up to see, sitting on a beam of a tall tower under construction high above their heads, Sonic and most of the others. Silver grinned and waved up at them. After doing that, he held a hand out to Blaze. "Ready?"

Blaze sighed and nodded as they both started glowing green and shot into the air. The two stopped and found themselves floating before Sonic as he sat next to Sierra. Around the two of them were Knuckles, Amy, Tails, Cosmo, Tikal, Shade, the water element Chaos, Vector, and Espio. Silver grinned when he saw all of them. "Hey guys! What happened here?"

Sonic chuckled, "One heck of an adventure." After stating this, he quickly explained everything that happened, from way back when they were sent on a mission to find the white bird to running into Aero, to them helping out with fixing the city. The entire group was currently on their lunch break, enjoying the moments of peace upon all of them for now.

"A future Xsus?" Silver laughed. "That would've been a sight to see!"

Sierra scowled as she looked at Silver. She looked at him thoughtfully before speaking up. "Where have you been all this time? You are from the future, aren't you? Wouldn't you have known about this mistake years ago?"

Blaze sighed as Silver used his telekenisis to move her next to Espio and set her down carefully next to him. She spoke up after a moment. "Oh, we haven't been to the present… or your future in awhile. We've actually been stuck in the past because _someone_ didn't use Chaos Control correctly..."

"Not my fault that a bee tried to sting me…!" Silver started to argue but stopped when he noticed the others staring. He laughed sheepishly and waved a hand at them. "Well, I'll be glad to help you guys out with fixing the city though."

"Same with me," Blaze said with a nod.

Sonic grinned and showed the two his trademark grin and thumbs up. "That's great you guys! Glad to have you two help out!"

Silver grinned and then glanced around. "Say… where are the other Dimension Jumpers?"

Knuckles coughed, obviously wanting to get attention in this conversation. All glanced over at him as he spoke up while shrugging. "Well three of them are behind you on that beam, still working. They had their lunch break earlier. Xsus, Charmy, and Cream are somewhere running around the city since they're a bit young to be helping out. Windy and Zap…? Who knows where and Katherine and the others are above us."

Silver grinned. "Thanks, Knucklehead!" He quickly flew out of reach as Knuckles swung a fist at him.

"What did you call me?!" Knuckles ranted and Silver laughed before shooting into the air, away from the group as they laughed at Knuckles' hotheadedness then went back to a normal conversation, letting Blaze join in.

Silver glanced downwards as he flew up and saw Ria, Chase, and Jason all working together on putting the building back together. Jason was practically frying the bolts to keep the metal beams together. Chase would help him out with balance along with Ria before all three flew down to grab another beam. As he shot higher into the air, he then noticed people sitting on a beam not too far above him.

Maria, Shadow, Chaos, and Katherine were all sitting on the beam above him, with their feet dangling in midair, all were laughing (or smirking) and pointing out sights they saw in the city. Silver secretly snuck up behind the group and listened in on their conversation for a moment.

"Alright, alright," Katherine said with a laugh and squinted as she looked at the city. "I spy with my little eyes something… green."

Shadow scoffed. "Stop pointing out Booming Lane, Katherine. We all know it's that street sign at the end of the road down below."

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Fine then, your turn, Shadow."

Shadow looked at the ground. "I spy something… white."

Maria looked around on the ground excitedly before speaking up. "Oh! Is it that white van down there?"

Chaos grinned, "Stalker van!"

Shadow rolled his eyes. "Maria got it."

"Pick something hard, Maria!" Katherine said as she looked over at Maria. "Shadow and Chaos keep picking the easy ones."

Chaos scowled. "Hey…! The fire hydrant was a perfect idea! Besides, you thought I meant the stop sign."

Katherine rolled her eyes and suddenly all four heard the sound of a bell chiming and Silver quickly dropped a couple of feet to duck underneath the beam as the four of them glanced back all at once. "Looks like lunchtime's over," Chaos said with a sigh as he grabbed a nearby yellow hard hat and put it on his head with a grin, "Back to work."

He held out a hand to Maria with a smile as she took the hand in his own and he carefully pulled Maria in his arms before smirking at the others. "Bet I can beat you all when it comes to putting up the most beams again."

Shadow gave Chaos a dark look. "Impossible, I am the Ultimate Life Form. I will easily beat you."

"Oh yeah? I'm the Original Life Form," Chaos stuck his tongue out at Shadow and Shadow opened his mouth to argue again but stopped when Katherine called out to them.

"Alright! That's enough bickering!" Katherine said. "Hurry back to work!"

"It goes for you too Katherine…" Chaos said with a frown.

"I'll be there in a moment don't worry, I'll catch up with you guys later," Katherine said while waving a hand at the three of them.

"You be careful, Katherine…" Maria called and Katherine smiled at Maria.

"I'll be fine! Don't worry!" Katherine said with a laugh and after a moment of hesitation, Shadow, Chaos, and Maria left the Light Giver alone with her own thoughts…

…until she jumped three feet off the beam when Silver grabbed her shoulders from behind with a grin, "Got your shoulders!"

"What the…?! Silver!" Katherine's eyes lit up when she saw him. "It's you! What are you doing here?!"

Silver laughed as he landed next to her on the beam with a grin. "Oh you know, I have to come over every now and again to make sure things don't go bad of course."

Katherine's eyes dimmed for a moment and she sighed, "Of course…"

"And… I also… wanted to see someone again."

Katherine's ears twitched as she glanced over at Silver, "Who?"

"No one! You're going to have to wait and see but she's the best person to understand me the most." Silver said with a grin.

Katherine nodded, but found herself feeling a sense of dread for some strange reason. "Huh… sounds… like a nice girl."

Silver grinned and then noticed the sad look on Katherine's face before frowning. "Um… Kathy? What's wrong?"

Katherine sighed as she looked away from Silver. "Oh… it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

Silver frowned and then poked Katherine's arm gently. "Kathy…? Come on, you can tell me…!"

Katherine glanced over at Silver and the two had a moment of silence where they stared at each other until Katherine started getting up, sighing again. "Well, I hope that girl is nice to you."

Silver chuckled and wrapped an arm around Katherine, much to her surprise before making her sit on the beam again. "Yep! She's quite a nice girl. Thanks for understanding me the best, Katherine."

The look on Katherine's face was priceless as she looked at him before smiling slowly, finding tears form in the corners of her eyes before wiping them away, causing Silver to laugh. "What? Are you sad about that?"

"No! I thought you were… talking about some other girl!"

"Why would I talk about some other girl?" Silver laughed as he pulled Katherine closer. Katherine smiled faintly and Silver couldn't help but smile too as the two sat in quiet, enjoying the other's company until they heard a cry beneath them. Silver and Katherine alike glanced down at the streets below in surprise.

"What was that?!" Silver demanded.

Katherine squinted at the ground then sighed in relief. "Oh thank the Light Givers. It's just Cream, Charmy and Xsus."

Silver chuckled and also looked at the ground as Xsus ducked behind a trashcan with Cream, Cheese, and Nighshade as Charmy flew by.

"Where'd you guys go?!" Charmy cried as he looked left and right frantically as Xsus and Cream huddled close together, holding their breath and trying not to release the giggles that were in both of their mouths.

As soon as Charmy flew out of sight, Xsus and Cream exploded in laughter that echoed around the city and Charmy quickly flew back towards them. He grinned triumphantly when he saw them. "I got you guys now!"

"Eek! Run!" Cream squealed joyfully and ran, grabbing Cheese as she ran off while Xsus jumped to his feet, grabbing Nightshade as he did so before running for his dear life as well. Charmy flew after Xsus as the golden cat retreated. As he ran, Xsus carefully put the Chao onto his head. Nightshade was soon holding onto Xsus' head for her dear life as Xsus ran faster. "Chao Chao!" She yelled at Xsus.

"Faster? Okay!" Xsus said with a laugh then launched himself into the sky, leaving Charmy in the dust as he flew higher into the air. As he flew up, he slowly spun in circles and as he did so, Nightshade squeaked in fear at the speed they were traveling as they rocketed into the air.

As soon as he was high enough that he could feel the water droplets freezing onto his fur, Xsus stopped and opened his arms out wide, breathing in the thin, cold air as Nightshade shivered on the top of his head. Xsus glanced up at Nightshade before looking at the ground, so far below that the skyscraper looked like large sticks now in the cloudless sky. The sun was on his back and he smiled big before frowning, thinking about the people of the future.

Were they okay? Were they… safe? Were they in a better place now? Xsus frowned to himself as the questions rattled his mind. Well, he couldn't worry about that now he realized after a moment of thought. It looked like he was going to find out himself!

"Ready Nightshade?" Xsus asked as he pulled the Chao off his head and held her in his arms. "Here we go!" He stopped concentrating on his energy and then fell like a rock towards the city, laughing and feeling free once again while Nightshade squeaked in fear.

-XXXXXXXX-

TIME= 14 HOURS 25 MINUTES

AREA= TWO HUNDRED MILES FROM LIGHT GIVERS' SQUARE

YEAR= 18 YEARS IN THE FUTURE

"Hmmm… they're late," Zap said to himself thoughtfully while looking at the nearby clock before looking back at the couple before him, making his eyes suddenly grow softer. "Sorry about that, you two, looks like we're going to have to start without them."

"Hang on!" Silver called from the back of the row and Zap glanced over in the hedgehog's direction as he sat next to Sonic the hedgehog, who chuckled as Silver stood. "We can't start yet! We still have to wait for…!"

Zap lifted a hand, cutting Silver off. "We cannot wait for them. We already wasted five minutes of this nonsense."

Robyn chuckled as she leaned over to Kelly as she sat next to her. "Eighteen years and the guy still hasn't changed a bit."

Kelly laughed and then repeated this to Windy as she sat next to her, who also laughed, as did Fengari and Zenox, who sat behind the three, when they heard Kelly.

Windy glanced back at the happy couple with a grin. "So you guys have been married for like what, six months now?"

"Close Wind," Fengari smirked, "Eight months."

Windy's eyes widened. "Eight? Wow time sure does fly…"

Zenox nodded as Fengari wrapped an arm around her with a smile on his face. "It does when you're not paying much attention."

Windy laughed weakly. "Yeah… I noticed. Good job with sponsoring all of this too… we couldn't have been able to make it this amazing without you two." She showed them a thumbs up to prove her point while grinning.

Fengari nodded while Zenox blushed, smiling faintly.

Zap suddenly spoke up, causing all to look at him, "Alright!" He pulled out a thick book and started turning the pages and stopped when he seemed satisfied with one of the pages. He glanced at the two people in front of him and then at everyone else, noticing how nice everyone had dressed up for the occasion, in tuxedos, suits, dresses, or skirts and blouses. He smirked and then stole a moment to look at Xerius, Clive, and Tails on his left then at Rouge, Alena, and Cosmo on his right before glancing at Sorro as he stood next to Tails with his hands behind his back and the biggest grin on his face.

Zap rolled his eyes and looked at the book before speaking. "We are gathered here today…!"

-XXXXXXXX-

"You caudex, we're late as it is! They probably started without us." Sierra sighed in disbelief as Chaos grabbed some flowers from a nearby bush and then jumped back on his Extreme Gear while looking at Katherine, Shadow, and Sierra before him.

"I can't help it! I forgot to get them a present!" Chaos chuckled weakly as Katherine gave Chaos a blank look.

"You did what?!" Katherine said to him.

Shadow shook his head slowly. "You'd think he'd be preparing for a present for them ever since Hydro came around."

"I know! I know! At least Maria got them one before I could really forget though." Chaos chuckled as he carefully tucked the flowers away. "Now come on! You did say they started without us."

Sierra sighed and the four of them started off again through the woods on their own Extreme Gears. The Flickies (or Flickys…?) chirped in the lush green trees around them, the cool wind was in their faces, and the sun shone down on their backs as Katherine took the moment to take a deep breath, enjoying the fresh cool air. "This is some great weather."

"Less time admiring, put more speed into your gear. Doesn't really matter though, I'm going to beat you anyways." Shadow said with a smirk growing on his face.

Katherine scowled at her brother. "Challenge accepted!"

Sierra rolled her eyes. "I think we've fought enough in the past week, thank you."

"She has a point," Chaos said while nodding in Sierra's direction. "We did just knock the lights out of Dr. Eggman a few days ago."

Katherine nodded and then her ears twitched. She glanced ahead as her siblings did too, all of them seeing the same thing she did. "We're almost there…" Katherine muttered as the group suddenly exploded out of the woods into a clearing and hopped off their Extreme Gears before crashing into the metal chairs that surrounded the podium in the middle of the clearing.

Zap froze in mid sentence and looked up at them with a sigh. "Well, look at who finally showed up, if it isn't the ARK Siblings."

"I told you," Sierra pointed at Zap as she, Shadow, Katherine, and Chaos took their seats that some people have saved for them. Although, Sierra made sure she took the empty seat next to Sonic since the others knew better than to take that seat. "I wasn't involved in that."

Katherine laughed. "You wish you were though."

Sierra scoffed, crossing her arms and looking away. "I do not!"

Shadow and Chaos laughed quietly as Katherine showed a grin of triumph when she sat next to Silver. Shadow took an empty seat near the front so he could be close to Alena and Chaos sat down next to Maria as she smiled at him. "Took you long enough," Maria whispered to him.

Chaos chuckled and showed her the flowers he grabbed earlier. "Sorry, had to grab these."

"Chaos!" Maria sighed while laughing.

"Enough! Can we finish this or are we going to sit around here all day arguing?" Zap asked them. When everyone went silent he glanced over at Sorro. "Now can the rings be brought forward?"

Sorro grinned and reached into his pockets but frowned when he found nothing there. He stole a quick moment to glance at Xerius, then over at Rouge before running down the stairs towards the audience, earning some chuckles and a faint smile on Xerius' face.

"Sorry…! I bet it's in here. I have everything in here!" Sorro said as he opened his leather bag and looked through it before pulling out two small, ice boxes. He ran upwards and handed the boxes into golden hands and grinned at the owner.

"Thanks Sorro," Xsus said as he ruffled up Sorro's fur on the top of the boy's thirteen-year-old head before opening the box and turning to Cream next to him in a glowing white dress. "Cream…?"

Cream smiled faintly and lifted her hand into Xsus' own. Xsus laughed and pulled a white ring out of the box before gently slipping it onto her finger. He glanced over at Zap, who nodded, then turned his attention back to Cream. "Cream, I promise that to the end of time I will never leave your side and will fight with you and for you through the blackest of nights…"

"What kind of wedding is this?" Robyn whispered to Katherine as she sat next to her.

"Light Givers' version," Katherine whispered back. "It's nothing like the usual."

"You're telling me." Sierra grumbled from behind as she crossed her arms.

"Shhh!" Windy hissed, glaring at the three of them and the fox and cats went silent.

Xsus continued after stealing a moment to glance over to see what the commotion was about. "…and I promise to never forget you. You will always be in my mind, even after the universe ends. I will forever love you."

Xsus finished while smiling at Cream and both stopped when they heard someone blowing their nose. Both glanced to the front row to see Vanilla crying, and dabbing at her eyes with a hankie. She sat next to Vector the crocodile, who was grinning like an idiot as he sat next to Espio and Charmy. Charmy had grown up to future Xsus' size and was wearing a tux but managed to get away with wearing black boots and sunglasses.

Xsus laughed quietly before looking at Cream as she took his hand and slipped a ring on his own finger. She looked up at him with a faint smile on her face. "Xsus… I promise that to the end of time I will never leave your side and will fight with you and for you through the blackest of nights. And I promise to never forget you. You will always be in my mind, even after the universe ends. I will forever love you."

Vanilla blew her nose again while Lizzie in the front row sighed, looking extremely bored as she sat next to Nygo. She was a grey colored cat with hazel eyes and long black hair that was pulled over her shoulder.

However, Lizzie stopped short when she noticed Jason giving her a hard look not too far away and looked quickly away to avoid her father's eye contact while Nygo chuckled then stopped short when Chase knocked him on the side of the head. Nygo spun his head to look at his own father, with his long ears that looked exactly like Chase's moving to the side as he did so. "What?!" Nygo demanded.

"Pay attention, both of you." Chase smirked as he sat next to Ria. "It's not every day when your uncle gets to be married."

Lizzie sighed and blew a strand of hair out of her face. "I know, I know…!"

Flame, who sat next to Strife near the back, wearing a black and white dress, wiped a tear from her eyes as Strife chuckled while looking at her, "Happy?"

"I got something in my eye, shut up." Flame muttered as she wiped more tears away stubbornly.

Terios laughed quietly as he sat next to his mother, glancing up at her with dark hazel eyes and dark fur with pale blue streaks in them. He looked almost like an exact double of his father, Strife.

Sierra laughed as she silently sat next to Sonic as he had an arm around her and Flame glared back at Sierra as she silently laughed harder along with Strife.

There was a moment of silence as soon as the two finished exchanged vows. The moment ended when Zap smiled and gently closed the book. "And I now pronounce you husband and wife. May the light forever shine down upon you and bestow upon you both everlasting happiness."

THE END

**Wow… okay, thanks goes to Strife the Dark 152 and "This is War" -30 Seconds to Mars for giving this story idea to me.**

**Lizzie "Blackie! Can I hit Nygo on the head?"**

**Why do you want to do that?!**

**Lizzie *scoffs* "He's being an idiot again."**

**Nygo "I volunteer Sorro to get hit on the head with Lizzie's hammer."**

**Sorro "Not cool Nygo. Not cool. Maybe I should whack you on the head with one of my potions."**

**Lizzie "Not if I hit you with my mom's hammer first!" *pulls out her hammer and smirks evilly***

**Um right, anyways… Lizzie you know you kind of just gave away who your mother is. That and the short story I put up did too… hmm…**

**Lizzie "What? Hammers run in the family now. Grandma used a hammer, mom does, now I do too."**

***annoyed look* Anyways, so yes! I finished the story, I hope you all liked it and stay tuned. Also, if some of you don't like how the future turned out to be- don't forget that it's the future. The future can always get changed for the better as Hydro puts it.**

**Before I go, quick question for all of you, who's your favorite character? And also what's your favorite part of the story? It'll help with my other stories. My next story will actually be in my 'Random Shorts' so keep an eye there for the next story since it's too short to be its own story. I'll see you around then!**

**Also to all of those suffering through Hurricane Sandy… well don't do anything stupid and drive through floods unless it's a life or death situation for starters, stay **_**safe**_**! Although being the weather geek that I am… I gotta ask… what's it like to be in a hurricane?! Is it cool or terrifying?! Anyways… yeah… nerd moment, sorry XD**

**Light be with you till we meet again.**

**~BlackSandHeart**


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